


To be Someone

by ForsakenAngel88



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Langst, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 06, Season/Series 06, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:23:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 56,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForsakenAngel88/pseuds/ForsakenAngel88
Summary: The Paladins, Krolia, Romelle and Coran are heading to Earth after saving all the universes. Lance is distancing himself from the team and Keith doesn't know why but he's on a mission to find out!





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> So season 6 gave me a bunch of feels and I couldn't find any fics with this idea so I decided to try and write it myself!!  
> I want to thank winter-and-little-brunettes for being super helpful with ideas and being my beta for this and just being so supportive as usual <3
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Darkness. That’s all Keith could see. Just the never ending darkness of space through the window of the black lion as they made their way back to Earth. He could barely hear the other four lions flying either next to him or just behind. 

“Guys, it’s been vargas now, we should find a place to set down for a while to rest.” Hunk’s weary voice filtered over the intercoms of the five lions. 

“Hunk’s right.” Keith agreed, feeling the tiredness of the last two battles in his muscles.They hadn’t stayed very long on the last planet where Allura had saved Shiro, wanting to get a start on their long journey home. “Pidge, can you find a safe place for us to land?” 

The telltale sound of button being pressed could be heard as Pidge began the search for a safe planet with breathable air. “There looks like there’s a small planet not far from here. We should be able to rest there for a few vargas.” She explained. “Sending the coordinates to you all now.” 

A ping sound echoed through all of the lions as they received the new data. Keith nodded as he checked out the info. “Thanks Pidge. Everyone head to those coordinates. We’ll set up camp and get some much-needed rest.” 

A chorus of “okay’s” filtered through his com as they all set off to their new destination. 

 

\--

It took them just a few doboshes to get to the planet Pidge had found. 

After checking his scanners, Hunk determined that the planet was mostly uninhabited, with only a few small animal like creatures living on the surface. 

Once he deemed it safe enough to land, Keith ordered the paladins to land in a small clearing, up against a cliff wall surrounded by dense bush. 

Once everyone was out of the lions, Keith noticed how tired everyone looked. “I’m sorry guys, we should have stopped for a break earlier.” He apologized as he and Krolia helped Shiro sit down on a nearby rock to rest. Shiro was still in and out of consciousness, so Keith leaned him up against the wall of the cliff so he wouldn’t fall over. 

Allura came up to them with Romelle following close behind. “It’s going to take some time to get back to Earth without the wormholes so we need to travel as long as we can each day.” she explained. 

Romelle stayed quiet by her side, but listened intently. 

“The princess is right, at this rate it’s going to take us a least ten quintants, with breaks.” Coran agreed, as he, Hunk and Pidge walked up to the group. “Although we should make sure we get plenty of rest, we don’t know if we might run into Sendak or any other Galra fleet along the way. We’ll need to stay vigilant.” he added. 

Pidge pulled her laptop from her backpack and started typing away. “Can I suggest we sleep here tonight? We are all exhausted from that last battle.” She looked up at Keith. “Keith, you look like you could fall asleep on your feet right now. The lions also need to rest.” She looked back down at her screen as she walked over to the Green Lion. “I’m going to do some diagnostics and maintenance.” 

Keith sighed tiredly, looking around at the group. “Alright. Sounds good. We’ll rest here for the night and start again tomorrow.” 

“I’ll go see if I can find any animals we could hunt for food” Krolia moved away from the group, but paused and turned to Keith. “Keith, make sure you rest. You’ve been through a lot the past quintant.” She said before continuing to enter the bushy land around them. 

Romelle ran after her, “Hey, I’ll come with you. Maybe I can find some edible plants.” 

Keith watched Romelle and his mother leave before turning back towards Shiro with a worried look on his face. 

Allura smiled softly at him and sat down next to Shiro. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on Shiro. You need to take a break and rest, you’re exhausted.” 

“She’s right man, you look like you could pass out, why don’t you go take a nap while we look after things here.” Hunk put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, gently pushing him towards a small area he could lay down comfortably on. 

“Yeah ok, just for a bit.” Keith nodded slowly, moving on his own to lay down. Once he got comfortable he closed his eyes and was out like a light a moment later. He didn’t even feel his wolf curl up beside him. 

Hunk sighed, moving back to the others. “That was easier than I thought it was gonna be. I was sure he’d try and argue.” He crossed his arms, staring down at the now sleeping man. 

“I’m sure whatever happened with clone Shiro was hard on him, and then we had the battle with Lotor. It’s been a long couple of vargas. He’ll feel better when he wakes up.” Allura said as she leant up against the wall next to Shiro. She was feeling just as tired after using so much Altean magic during the battle and then transferring Shiro’s spirit from the Black Lion into the clones body. 

“You need to rest as well, Princess. You don’t look much better yourself.” Coran knelt next to her, holding her hand between hers. 

Allura smiled at him. “I’ll be alright Coran. I’ll just sit here with Shiro and recuperate a little.”

Coran nodded, patting her hand before placing it in her lap. “Alrighty then. I will use the ingredients Krolia and Romelle bring back to us to make us all some delicious meals!” He stood up and made his way over to the other side of the clearing to begin making a fire. 

“I think I’ll help you with that.” Hunk began following him, before noticing Lance standing off to the side near his lion with Kaltenecker. It was unusual for his friend to not be loud and in the middle of the conversation. “Hey buddy, you alright?” 

Lance snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Hunks voice, plastering a smile on his face. “Yeah man, just tired. Anything I can do to help?” 

Hunk hummed, accepting Lance’s excuse without a second thought. He looked over at Coran, who looked like he was getting carried away, picking up random rocks and sticks in an attempt to build a fire pit. “Coran and I are going to start preparing a place to cook whatever Krolia and Romelle bring back, so would you be able to grab some wood for the fire? I need to go make sure Coran doesn’t hurt himself over there.” 

“Quiznack!” 

Lance chuckled, watching as Coran tripped on a rock whilst carrying one, causing him to drop the rock in his hands. “Yeah, sure thing. Better get over there before he causes some real damage.” 

Hunk laughed, patting Lance on the shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.” 

Lance watched Hunk run over to Coran before letting out a sad sigh. He turned around and walked into the bush in search for some suitable wood for the fire. 

 

\--

Keith woke up to some loud voices to his right. He grudgingly turned around to see Hunk and Coran arguing on the best way to build… whatever it was they were building. At the moment it just looked like a pile of rocks in a very uneven circle and a bunch of sticks poking out in all directions. He groaned and let his head fall back to the ground. 

“Sorry, did they wake you?” Allura spoke softly in his direction. She was still leaning up against the wall next to Shiro as he slept. Her eyes were duller then they were before and she had the beginning of dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted. 

“What are they even doing over there?” He groaned out, his voice scratchy. 

“I believe they are trying to make a fire fit, but they want to build it their own way. They’ve been at it for nearly a varga now.” Allura replied tiredly, rolling her head back against the wall to watch the two men argue. 

Keith sighed and sat up. There wasn’t any point in trying to get back to sleep right now, so he may as well get up and try and help. Once he stood up, he began to walk towards the two. As he passed Allura he stopped. “You should rest Princess. You need to regain your strength. We can watch Shiro for a while.” He turned back to Hunk and Coran. “I’ll go see if I can shut these two up for you.” 

Allura closed her eyes and hummed. “Thanks Keith. I’ll try and sleep for a little while.” 

Keith smiled and motioned his wolf to stay by Allura and Shiro to stand watch before walking over to the fighting men. “Hey! What’s going on over here? Can you keep it down; Shiro and Allura are resting.” He whispered harshly. 

Hunk and Coran stopped immediately, a guilty look crossing their faces.  
“Sorry Keith. We are trying to build a fire pit to cook whatever Krolia and Romelle bring back, but Coran won’t let me fix his attempt.” Hunk replied sheepishly, motioning to the pile of rocks and sticks in front of them. 

Coran huffed, insulted and growled towards the younger man, one hand on his hip, the other pointed at Hunk. “My ‘attempt’ is just fine thank you very much.” 

Keith looked down at the mess near his feet and sighed. “Guys, you need to work together. I know we are all tired, but we need to help Allura and Shiro. They’ve been through a lot.” 

Coran stood up straight and glanced over at Allura sleeping next to Shiro against the wall. “You’re right… Sorry Keith. We’ll get this mess cleaned up before the others get back.” He leant down to start rearranging the rocks into a circular shape. 

Hunk smiled at up Keith apologetically, as he began to help Coran. “How are you feeling? You weren’t asleep for very long.” 

Keith looked around their small camp area, taking in their surroundings now that he wasn’t so tired. It wasn’t that large of an area; the lions took up a lot of room, but they also provided shelter from the large sun this planet had. Despite the large ball of light in the sky, the atmosphere wasn’t humid or overly hot, which Keith was thankful for. “I’m ok. I’ll sleep some more later.” He said, scanning the ground around the lions. “Where are Pidge and Lance?” 

“Pidge is still working with the lions and I sent Lance out to get firewood.” Hunk replied, grunting as he moved a heavy boulder into place. 

Keith frowned. “And he hasn’t come back yet?” 

Hunk stood up and faced Keith with a raised eyebrow. “No? Krolia and Romelle haven’t returned either. I’m sure he’s fine. There’s nothing dangerous out here, remember?” 

Keith huffed, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in irritation. “I’ll go see if he needs help. Which way did he go?” 

Hunk pointed in the direction he last saw Lance. “I believe he went in over there. We’ll try and have this fire pit ready for when you guys get back.” He bent down again and continued to help Coran move the rocks into place, not paying further attention to Keith as he stomped away towards Lance’s direction. 

 

Keith walked for what seemed like vargas. The heat from the sun was getting warmer and without the Lions to give him shade, he was beginning to sweat in his paladin armor. The trees were mostly dry and bare, with very few leaves covering them. He wondered if it was becoming mid-day on this planet, with the sun at its highest point, it reminded him of a hot summer’s day back on Earth. 

Huffing his exhaustion and discomfort away, he continued to search for Lance. Suddenly he heard something in the distance, and immediately stopped. He listened for it again, scanning the area around him. He still couldn’t see anything due to the dense tree masses, but he could hear the sound of crunching nearby to his left. 

Heading in that direction he soon came across a small clearing of broken tree branches. There he saw Lance mindlessly picking up small logs and branches with his back facing him. Keith smiled, “LANCE!” he called, expecting the teen to look over and see him, but Lance made no motion that he’d heard Keith. 

Keith frowned, sighing as he looked for a way to get through the wall of branches to get through to the clearing. Seeing none around, he took out his bayard and cut through some of the branches. Making a doorway for himself, he pushed through the scraggly twigs left behind, some of them scratching his face and getting caught on his black suit and hair. 

He looked up, expecting that Lance would have heard him with all the noise he made, but Lance still made no indication that he knew someone was around. Keith frowned at that. Lance was usually very aware of his surroundings, and it wasn’t like him to let someone or something sneak up on him. 

Walking forward, Keith moved up until he knew Lance would be able to hear him. “I didn’t realize it took so long to collect firewood.” He teased, a small smirk on his face. 

Lance jumped and twisted around quickly, dropping all the logs so he could raise his arms in a defensive stance, ready to fight. Seeing it was only Keith, Lance sighed, lowering his arms. “Quiznack Keith, you almost gave me a heart attack.” He bent down to pick up his forsaken logs. “What are you doing out here anyways, I thought you were supposed to be resting.” 

Keith shrugged before helping Lance with his logs. “Coran and Hunk woke me up with their arguing. I decided to come see what was taking you so long. I thought maybe you got lost or attacked or something.” 

Lance frowned and pouted, he knew the team thought he was weak, but there wasn’t even any real danger out here. Did they really think he was that incompetent? “Hunk said there’s nothing dangerous on this planet. I just wanted some quiet time to myself. I didn’t realize I had been gone for so long. Are the others waiting for me?” He quickly finished picking up the rest of the fallen branches, avoiding Keith’s gaze. 

“No, not really. They were too busy arguing to really notice how long you’ve been gone.” Keith stood up with Lance, carrying a bundle of his branches to help. He noticed Lance’s eye twitch as he said that, but Lance still wouldn’t look at him. 

Lance didn’t say anything as he began the trek back to the campsite.  
Keith frowned. It wasn’t like Lance to be this quiet, and since when did Lance like quiet time alone? He was always hanging out with someone, whether it be helping Pidge or Hunk while they did tech stuff or Coran and Allura in the observation deck of the castle, he was rarely alone. He started walking, catching up to Lance before he got too far ahead. “Are you alright Lance? 

“I’m fine mullet, just tired.” Lance replied curtly. 

Keith wasn’t buying it. He’d seen Lance tired before, but he’d never seen him like this. He seemed almost distant, like he was purposely being vague so no one would question him. Frowning Keith decided to let it go for the moment, but he wasn’t going to forget. He’d just wait until everyone had gotten some rest before trying again. 

They continued their walk in silence. 

\--

When they returned, Krolia and Romelle were already back, talking to Hunk and Coran. Lance immediately walked over and gave Hunk the branches he had found, a smile stretched across his face like nothing was wrong. Hunk said something to make Lance laugh, but it wasn’t the same laugh that Keith had remembered before he left for the Blade. This one was empty and hollow. No one else seemed to notice though, which made Keith concerned. What exactly happened during the time he was away? He decided then, that he was going to keep an eye on Lance and find out what was going on. 

Hunk and Coran began cooking straight away. There were a few disagreements, but after a few stern looks from Keith, they settled down and continued without arguing. Keith sighed in slight frustration, crossing his arms. He didn’t want to have to continually keep watch on Hunk and Coran. Maybe he’d have to suggest splitting them up. 

Lance glanced over at Keith, hearing the annoyance in his voice. “Don’t worry mullet, I’ll watch over these two.” He looked over to where Allura and Shiro began stirring from their sleep. “Looks like those two are waking up. You should go check on them.” 

Keith smiled at him, “Thanks, I’ll be back soon. Make sure these two don’t destroy anythi…” 

“You’re not preparing this correctly!” Hunk yelled.

“This is the way we used to do it on Altea! Just let me do it my way. Focus on your own food.” Coran snapped back.

Lance and Keith’s attention was drawn back to the fire pit as they watched Hunk and Coran begin arguing again. 

“..or kill each other.” Keith sighed, shaking his head as he left Lance to deal with them. 

Keith walked over to Shiro and Allura. Romelle had found some water and was currently offering it to a still weak Shiro. “How are you guys feeling?” he asked softly. 

Allura winced as she tried to sit up on her own so Krolia knelt at her side to support her. “I’ll be alright, I just need some more rest.” She brought a hand up to her head, feeling dizzy from the movement. 

“You don’t look well Princess, maybe you should lean back against the wall and get some more rest now?” Krolia suggested, her hands supporting Allura’s weight so she wouldn’t topple over. 

“Krolia’s right. Maybe all that alchemic power has drained your energy. I can go and find something more comfortable for you to sleep on.” Romelle, stood up and ran over to the Blue Lion, hopping inside to find some blankets. 

Keith sat down next to Shiro, where Romelle had just been. “Hopefully a good night’s rest will help us all feel better in the morning.” He sighed, stretching out his sore muscles. “It’s lucky this planet is mostly uninhabited. At least we don’t have to worry about wild beasts or natives attacking us in the middle of the night” he mused out loud while patting his wolfs head, who had settled down next to him. 

Shiro shifted slightly next to him. “I’m sorry for causing so much trouble for you all.” His voice cracked from not being used for so long. 

Keith frowned sitting up and looking at Shiro directly. “You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. It’s all Zarkon and Haggar and Lotor’s fault!” 

Shiro’s eyes widen at his absolute response.

Allura looked over sadly as Romelle came back with a blanket in her arms. “I’m afraid I’m to blame for some of this. I was the one who trusted Lotor and helped build his ships. We wouldn’t have needed to destroy the castle if his ship didn’t make all those tears between realities.” 

Keith stood up and glared at both Shiro and Allura. “No! Neither of you are to blame!” 

Lance, Hunk and Coran looked up at Keith’s second outburst, confused as to what the commotion was. Even Pidge popped her head out of the Lion she was working on to see what was going on. 

Keith turned to look at everyone, feeling all their questioning eyes on him. He took a deep breath and swallowed before continuing in a calmer voice. “No one here is to blame for the events that have happened. Zarkon and Haggar are the ones who started this.” He turned to Allura, “We were all fooled by Lotor, Princess. I know we have all done things we aren’t proud of..” he looked around at the group again. “..but all we can do now is move forward together.” 

Everyone looked stunned, not saying a word as Keith glanced around slightly embarrassed. 

Lance smirked, “Who knew you had that in you.” He chuckled, breaking the awkward silence. 

Keith raised his eyebrow and pouted slightly. He was trying his best to make everyone feel better. 

“Keith’s right.” Shiro’s voice broke him from his thoughts. “We need to stop beating ourselves up for what’s happened and focus on the future.” He stood up, a bit wobbly on his feet. Keith grabbed a hold of him to keep him upright. He nodded at Keith in thanks and with the support began to walk towards the fire. “We need to come up with a plan.” 

The food sizzled over the fire. The smell being carried in the slight breeze the afternoon had brought. 

“Well the food is almost done, should we all gather around and talk?” Hunk piped up. “Coran can you find some plates for everyone?” 

“Sure thing.” Coran walked back to the blue lion. 

Keith sat Shiro down near the fire as Hunk got the food ready. His wolf close behind. 

Krolia helped Allura down by carrying her bridal style as Allura was still too lightheaded to walk. 

Romelle and Pidge followed behind.

They all sat in a circle, Coran handed everyone a plate and Hunk served the food. Once everyone had their serves Shiro began the meeting.

“Alright, so does anyone want to start us off? We are obviously making our way back to Earth, but do we have a timeframe or the safest route to get there?”

“I’ve been doing some calculations as I was checking over the Lions and as Coran mentioned when we got here, it’s going to take us at least ten quintants to get there with approximately eight to ten vargas for stops each quintant for sleep. That’s going full throttle all the way there, but I’m not sure how the lions will cope. They took a fair bit or damage from the battle with Lotor and then being overpowered by all that quintessence. Hunk and I will have to monitor the conditions of the lions as we go.” Pidge replied, looking over to Hunk for his confirmation.

“Pidge is right and without the castle to increase their power, it’s going to take them longer to repair themselves. Flying at full power isn’t going to help.” Hunk added, nodding to Pidges point.

“Is there anything we can do to help the process along?” Keith asked, concerned.

“Not really, it’s just going to take time. If we don’t use the lions during the times we rest on a planet, we should hopefully be alright.” Pidge shrugged helplessly. 

“Avoiding unnecessary battles will help to.” Coran jumped in. 

Hunk nodded furiousiously, agreeing, “I second that. Also is it even safe to form Voltron while we have others in the lions?” he motioned to Krolia, Romelle, Coran and Shiro.

“We’ll try to avoid battles if we can, but we can’t ignore any distress calls along the way. Lotor may be gone, but Haggar and Sendak are still out there.” Allura stated, her voice barely a whisper. “It’s still our duty as Paladins.”

“Speaking of the Galra, what do you think they’ll do now that Lotor is gone?” Lance asked curiously. 

“We can’t really worry about that at the moment. We just have to hope that we don’t run into any on the way home.” Pidge dismissed, changing the subject. “I spoke to Matt today as well. He’ll be meeting us along the way.” 

The others all chimed in asking how Matt had been and what he was doing with the coalition rebels, but Keith didn’t pay them much mind, his attention was solely on Lance and the way his face had dropped when Pidge had ignored his question. It was a good question though. The Galra had already been in shambles after Lotor took the throne, Keith couldn’t even imagine what it was going to be like when word had spread of Lotor’s defeat. He guessed only time would tell. 

 

\--

After dinner the group split up again. Pidge and Hunk went back to checking over the lions. Krolia, Romelle and Coran helped Allura and Shiro into the beds they had set up using blankets and pillows; and Lance… well Lance had wandered off again. 

Keith made sure Shiro and Allura were alright, asking Krolia to keep an eye on them while Coran and Romelle also slept before he went in search of Lance. His wolf curled up against Shiro to keep him safe.

It didn’t take him too long to him. Lance had barely wandered into the outskirts of the bushland. He was sitting on an old half rotted log, staring up at the two small moons in the dark red sky. 

“Don’t you want to get some rest?” Keith asked, coming up to sit next to him.

Lance hummed and shrugged, “I will soon.”

Keith just nodded, staring up at the sky as well. 

They sat there for a for a few doboshes before Keith spoke again. “Are you worried?”

Lance turned to look at Keith. “Worried about what?” he asked, confused.

Keith looked back at him, “About the Galra, now that Lotor is gone.” he replied.

Lance looked shocked for a moment, before breaking eye contact, “I guess. ...It doesn’t really matter what I think though.” he mumbled.

“Well I think it’s something important to think about.” Keith replied confidently as he looked back up at the moons, missing Lance’s shocked gaze. “I mean, the Galra were already messed up when Lotor took over, he didn’t exactly have time to pull everyone in line, especially with Sendak trying to get control.”

Lance hummed again, this time in agreement, moving to stare up at the moons as well. “This is going to sound weird coming from me, but did we do the right thing? I know Lotor did a horrible thing, and I know Allura, Coran and Romelle wouldn't have forgiven him… And I’m not saying that they should, but at least with Lotor on our side we at had a break from fighting the majority of the Galra. They may be splintered and disorganised now, but given time, Sendak will recruit them and come after us. He knows we’re from Earth. It’s just a matter of time before he attacks our home.” he reflected, expressing his concerns.

Keith was surprised by Lance’s sudden openness. He hadn’t talked this much in the entire time he had been back on the team. He made some good points though, Keith thought to himself.

“Lotor made his choices and he had to deal with the consequences. I agree that we need to be mindful of Sendak though. He knows us and almost outsmarted us once. We will need to just make sure that we make it back to Earth before him so we can defend it” 

“I just hope we are enough.” Lance replied, his voice filled with worry. 

Keith glanced back at Lance, putting his hand on his shoulder to get Lance’s attention. “Hey, as long as we all stick together we can overcome anything, alright? Look at what we’ve accomplished so far! Sendak won’t know what hit him!” he exclaimed, trying to cheer the other up.

Lance gave him a small smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes.”Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’ll deal with whatever comes our way like we’ve done every other issue.”

“Exactly” Keith replied, smiling back. He hopped off the log and stretched his arms above his head, yawning. “Well I’m gonna go back and try and get some sleep. You should get some as well. We have a long trip ahead of us and we all need to be well rested.” he stated.

Lance jumped off the log. “Yeah, sleep sounds good right about now.” he replied stifling a yawn with the back of his hand.

“Alright, let’s head back then.” Keith said as the two of them walked back to the campsite to sleep for the night.


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith starts having a strange dream and Allura is deathly sick. Stuck on a baron planet with no medical supplies they have no choice but to look elsewhere for help. Pidge finds a planet nearby that is willing to help... but not everything is as it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again! I honestly could not put this down cause I am having so much fun XD   
> Also the announcement of S7 was not expected so soon, so I'm gonna try and get as much of this out as I can before it airs!!

Keith hadn’t felt this way in a long time. As he slept, he finally had a deep sense of calmness run though his mind and body. He could feel the tension and pain seep from his muscles like the ground was pulling them from his body, even as he laid on a rocky hard ground. There was no need to be on high alert for once. No immediate threat to his or his friends’ lives. His mind was finally able to rest. It made him feel like he was weightless, floating right off the ground.

He didn’t know how long he was floating in the peaceful abyss of the blackness of his mind, before he noticed the black started bleeding into colour. As he lay there, he could faintly hear the sound of waves, softly crashing into a shore. The smell of salt water filled his nose. As he opened his eyes slowly, he noticed a night sky plastered above him. Stars twinkled in a familiar pattern on the blueish black sky. Earth. The word filtered through his mind like an afterthought, bringing another wave of serenity over him.

As he shifted up into a standing position, Keith looked around the scene that had unfolded in front of him. He was standing on a beach, his bare feet sinking into the damp sand as he stood there staring out at the ocean. He looked down at his feet, wondering where his shoes had gone. A small warm breeze blew past him, ruffling his hair and clothes, which were definitely not the paladin armor he fell asleep in. Instead he was clothed in a simple black shirt, with a red over shirt that was unbuttoned, and a tan pair of shorts that went down to his knees. Not giving it much thought- it was a dream after all- he looked back up out across the ocean. He had never really been to a beach before, having lived in the desert and garrison his entire life. It felt nice. He wondered if Lance’s home was like this. The other often spoke of Varadero beach, where he grew up with his family.

The random thought of Lance created a strange feeling within Keith’s heart, like someone was tugging at it. It wasn’t painful, but it did leave Keith feeling uncomfortable enough to grab the front of his shirt and clench at fabric over his chest. Something in his peripheral vision caught his attention, off to the right. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tried to focus on it. Standing a fair ways away was a dark figure just staring out at the ocean like he himself had been doing earlier.

Keith couldn’t make out the details of the person since they were too far away, so he began to walk towards them. The figure didn’t move or show any indication that they realized someone was approaching them.

“Hey?” Keith called out, still making his way over to the figure. His feet sank into the sand with every step, the grains crunching between his toes. It felt like he wasn’t making any progress as he walked forward. Everything was skewed and slow, the world around them rippling sluggishly almost like the waves crashing into the shoreline.

The figure’s head turned towards Keith almost eerily, still cast in a dark shadow, concealing many of its details. But he could see blue eyes filled with sorrow as their gaze pierced into Keith’s.  “Keith…” it whispered out, its voice echoing through the world around him.

Keith stopped, shocked at the sensation that flew through him. It was like a force was pushing him backwards, vibrating through his entire body. “Lance?” he asked, confused.

The figure didn’t move, just continued to stare at Keith. “Keith.” It said louder this time, but it’s mouth wasn’t moving at all. The word still echoing around them. “Keith!” it began to yell louder.

Keith felt a large push of energy, like something hit him and was trying to drag him away from Lance. “Lance!!” he called back, trying to fight through the energy and reach out to the figure.  
“KEITH!” The dark figure yelled again as the scene began to fade away. “KEITH, WAKE UP!”

The figure was the last to disappear from Keith’s mind as he was abruptly shaken from his slumber. His eyes flew open wide as adrenaline rushed through his body. He woke up to Lance hovering over him, shaking him by the shoulders. His face was etched with blatant worry and panic.

“Oh my god Keith, you’re finally awake!” Lance rushed out, his voice full of urgency. “Come on, we need to hurry. Somethings wrong with Allura!”

Keith sat up quickly, almost butting heads with Lance and looked over to where Allura had been sleeping. Everyone was standing in a loose circle around her, all talking quickly and frantically. “What happened? What’s wrong?” he asked, getting up in a hurry to join the others.

Lance came up next to him as he peered down at the sleeping princess. Her brows furrowed, teeth clenched in pain, her skin was pale and slick with sweat. She didn’t look well at all. “We don’t know. Shiro heard her whimpering in her sleep and alerted Coran. We’ve been monitoring her all morning, but she’s just getting worse. We need to do something.” Lance explained, his voice drenched with worry.

Keith frowned as he thought through some options. There wasn’t anything they could do here. The planet they were on was a barren wasteland and any advanced medical supplies they had access to were lost with the Castle of Lions, along with the healing pods. He looked up to Coran, where he sat with Allura’s head in his lap. “Do you know what’s wrong with her?” Keith asked. “What do we need to do to make her feel better?”

Coran shook his head gently, his eyes shone with unshed tears. He pressed a cold damp rag to her forehead in an attempt to keep her fever down. “I’ve never seen something like this before.” He replied quietly. His lip was quivering slightly as he continued, “Alteans rarely get sick and when they did they would go straight into a healing pod so it never got this bad.”

“It looks like it could be a virus, or the flu.” Pidge added, checking Allura’s symptoms in her database. “She must have caught something recently and due to the exertion her body has been through, it wasn’t strong enough to fight against the infection.” She concluded, closing her laptop.

Lance huffed, frustrated at the lack of progress they were making. “That still doesn’t help with how we can help her. We don’t have any medicine here and nothing to make anything either.” 

Hunk came up beside Lance and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Lance, calm down.” He said anxiously. They all knew that Lance tended to get carried away when Allura was involved. “We’ll figure something out. We aren’t going to let Allura get any worse.”

Pidge stared up at Lance unamused, before opening her laptop again and started typing away. “I’ll see if there is another planet nearby that we could find help.” She retorted.

Lance growled in frustration and pulled out of Hunk’s grip to start pacing. His hands wound up into his hair as he began to ramble nervously. “We don’t have time for this. We should take her to Olkarion. At least we know we are welcome there and we’ll be safe and they’ll be able to help Allura. What if she gets worse and can’t get better? What if this new planet is dangerous or Galra infected? We can’t form Voltron without Allura, we’ll be sitting ducks! We need to fix her now-“

Lance stopped suddenly mid-sentence as something prevented him from continuing his pacing. His eyes stared unblinkingly at the familiar red and white chest plate of Keith's paladin armor. He looked up slowly to meet Keith’s serious, but calming gaze, clamping his mouth shut.

Keith moved his hands up to gently pull Lances hands down from his head. “Lance, take a deep breath. We will find a way to help Allura, I promise.” Keith stated honestly, squeezing Lance’s hands between his own to try and reassure the frazzled man. “You just need to calm down and clear your mind so we can work this out. Can you do that?” he asked calmly.

Lance took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Yeah, sorry.” He breathed out apologetically.

Keith smiled gently at him, before dropping his hands and turning to the others, who were all staring at the pair. Keith glanced around awkwardly, clearing his throat. “Is it possible to fly to Olkarion? Lance makes a good point.” He says quickly to move their attention away from himself and back to the issue at hand.

Pidge started typing on her laptop again, humming in thought. “Olkarion is really far out of our way and in the opposite direction of where we are heading. It would put us behind schedule by another 4 or 5 quintants at least, depending on how long it took Allura to heal.” She looks up, frowning, “I don’t think its viable to go there.”

Allura moaned in her restless sleep, causing everyone to look down at her in concern.

Romelle pulled the cloth from her forehead and dipped it in a small container filled with water before placing it back on Allura’s head. “We need to decide what to do, her fever is getting worse.” She said softly, pushing some of Allura’s hair back from her sticky skin.

“Pidge, were you able to find another planet we could try?” Shiro asked from his position next to Coran and Allura. 

“There is a small one nearby. It looks like they are a civilized planet so they should be able to help.” Pidge piped up. “I also searched for any Galra activity nearby and there weren’t any signs of Galra ships so we should be safe enough to fly there and back.”

“How are we going to get Allura there? She can’t fly the blue lion and we can’t just leave it here on its own, the Galra might stumble upon it and take it.” Hunk mused, pausing in thought for a moment tapping his lip with his index finger. “It would also let the Galra know that something is wrong and they might come after us in our weakened state.” He concluded.

Krolia stood up from the group, causing everyone to zero in on her. “We don’t all have to go. Some of us can stay behind and protect the blue lion until you return.” She motioned to the blue lion behind her. “There is no point in all of us going. It might even be better if only a few go, as to not scare the habitants of the planet.” She explained.

Keith walked up to his mother. “She’s right. It’ll be quicker and safer if only a few of us go. Pidge, Lance, Coran and I will take Allura. Hunk you and Krolia stay here and look after Shiro, Romelle and the blue lion. We’ll try and return as quickly as possible.” He stated, moving over to the Black lion without wasting another minute. “Coran, come on, we don’t have much time.”

“Oh, right, yes, yes.” Coran muttered quickly. He carefully picked up Allura in his arms bridal style and carried her over to the black lion. 

“Good luck!” Hunk called out as Keith, Pidge, Lance and Coran entered the lions.

Coran settled down in the cockpit of the black lion behind Keith’s chair, sitting on the ground, cradling Allura against his chest, as Keith sat down in the pilots seat. “Pidge, send us those coordinates.” Keith commanded as his lion’s power came on, filling the cockpit with a purple glow.

“Coming to you now. It shouldn’t take more than a varga to get there.” Pidge’s voice filtered through the coms of the lions in reply.

“Let’s just hope they can and are willing to help us.” Lance thought out loud as the three lions took off into the red sky.

The others didn’t say anything, but Keith tightened his fists around the controls and Pidge bit her lip in anticipation; they were thinking the same thing.

\---

It didn’t take them long to get to this other planet, which was apparently named Wuzherf, and they were fortunate enough to not run into any Galra, much to Keith’s relief. 

From their lions they could see a city amongst a sea of rainforest type trees. The buildings were modern looking, but still modest in size, very similar to a small townhouse on Earth. The doors however looked to be about three quarters of the size, meaning that the aliens who lived here were small in stature. On the edge of the city, there was a gateway that led into the forest that looked like the entrance to the city. 

Keith looked around for a safe place to land. The dense forest made it difficult, especially with his lion being so big. Frowning, he saw a small alcove on the edge of the forest, that would fit either the two smaller lions, or just the black lion. Keith sighed in frustration. They were going to have to split up. 

“Guys, there's nowhere to land all three lions. You two land in that small alcove by the edge of the forest there, I’m going to go see if I can find a place nearby to land. We’ll meet at the gate to the city.” he stated, flying across the forest to find another open area to land.

“Keith, I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up.” Lance voiced his concerns over the coms, as he followed Pidge over to the alcove to land. 

“I know Lance, but we don’t have much time. We just need to find somewhere to land for now. We’ll deal with any issues later.” Keith replied, spotting a safe place not far from the alcove he sent Lance and Pidge to. “I found somewhere to land. We’ll catch up with you guys as soon as we can.” he said quickly, cutting communications with the other two. 

The walk through the forest towards the city gate was uneventful. Keith and Coran ended up bumping into Lance and Pidge at an intersection of the paths to the main path to the city, so they all walked down together. 

Keith glanced around them as they walked, keeping an eye out for anything that might endanger them. The forest surrounding them was quiet, but not eerily so. It felt calm and relaxing, Keith thought to himself. He could easily just sit amongst the trees for hours without a care in the world, but there wasn’t time for that now. He turned his attention to the gate they were coming up to. 

Keith looked up at the massive gate, which was at least double his size, if not more. It looked like it was made of steel. The walls holding the gate up were just as tall, however were made out of stone and concrete. It seemed strange that the walls were so high considering the civilians that lived here were so small. Glancing down again, Keith noticed there were two of them standing on either side of the gate, some sort of blasters in their hands. 

They were about a foot shorter than Pidge, skin a smooth pasty blue colour. Each had four arms and two legs, with small ears on their slightly large heads. The piercing black eyes made Keith halt the group. 

“Wait here, I’ll go and talk with them alone.” he explained to the others, waiting for their confirmation before walking over to the guards. 

As he approached the guards pointed their blasters at him. “Halt! What is your business here.” One of them commanded. It’s voice deep and gravely.

Keith raised his hands to show he meant no harm. “My name is Keith, I am a Paladin of Voltron. My friends and I have come seeking medical services. Our princess,” he paused motioning to Allura behind him. “has come down with something and we don’t have anything to help her. Are you able to help us?” he asked in a diplomatic tone.

The two guards looked at each other before looking over at Allura and then back at Keith. “Voltron you said? Is Voltron here?” the other asked.

Keith shook his head. “No only a few of us are here. We don’t have much time, Allura is getting worse. Can you help us or not?” he asked again, as he tried to let them now the urgency of the issue.

The first guard lit up at Allura’s name. “Princess Allura of Altea?” it questioned. 

Keith raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Yes… do you know her?”

“Altea used to be good friends with Wuzherf many millennia ago. Come, come. We will take you to our leader, he will look after the princess.” The two guards pushed the gate open, and began to walk inside, expecting the others to follow.

Keith turned back to the group and shrugged, before motioning them to follow the guards inside. The group followed quietly behind the guards as they marched through the city streets. The city itself was very organised. Rows of houses and shops lined the streets. Everything seemed to have its rightful place. Even the residents walked and went about their business in an orderly manner.

“This place is way too clean and orderly. It’s so weird.” Pidge commented as she followed behind Keith. “I wouldn’t like to live here.”

“It is indeed strange to see. I wonder how they keep it this way.” Coran replied, walking beside her. Allura was still in his arms, practically motionless. She hadn’t stirred since they left to come to this planet. 

Lance walked up beside Keith, leaning slightly into him to talk so the guards wouldn’t hear him. “I don’t like this place. Something doesn’t feel right.” he whispered.

Keith hummed in agreement, eyes scanning the city for danger. “Just be on your guard. As soon as they help Allura we’ll get out of here.” He whispered back. 

Lance nodded as he pulled back from Keith’s space to stare at the large pyramid building they were coming up to in the centre of the city. “Holy crow.” he gasped in shock.

“They have a giant white pyramid!” Pidge exclaimed, “Look at the size of this thing!” she yelled out, not believing her eyes.

The building was 3 times the size of any other building around it. It was stark white, glowing brightly under the harsh sunlight above; several large windows filled the walls on all sides. 

The guards stopped in front of the building and turned to the Paladins and Coran. “Please wait here while I go announce your arrival. Once I return I will escort you to our leader.” One of them said before entering the building, closing the door behind them.

The other guard just stayed outside of the door, watching the group unnervingly. Keith eyed the alien suspiciously, looking around. He felt like they were being watched on all sides. “Coran, do you know anything about these aliens?” he whispered.

Coran hummed in thought, “I don’t believe so. There are many species and planets though, it’s impossible to know of them all.” he stated, moving Allura in his arms as she moaned out in pain.

Keith frowned, turning back to the guard watching them. Something definitely wasn’t right here. If they had been friendly with Altea, wouldn’t Coran know of them? Before he could think more of it, the doors opened again to reveal the guard that had gone in moments before.

“Our leader will see you now. Please follow us.” they said, allowing the paladins and Coran into the building. 

The foyer was massive. White marble covered everything from the floors to the walls to the columns decorating the sides of the rooms. Blue and white curtains hung elegantly across the windows by gold decorated rods. There were several desks lined along the left side, most of them unmanned at the present time. The ones that were, had lines of people waiting for service. 

Pidge scoffed, “More white, why am I not surprised. I feel like I’m in one of those hospitals in all those zombie movies. Do these people not know of any other colours?” she whispered to the group.

Lance snickered quietly. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to insult the people who we’re asking to help us, Pidge. Besides, they use blue and gold as well.” he replied keeping an eye on the guards in front of them.

The guards walked straight past the desks and up the wide staircase, also made from white marble and covered with plush blue carpet, towards the end of the hall. At the top of the stairs, a large white wooden door engraved with gold decoration stood. It was opened up to reveal another large room, where a slightly larger Wuzherfian sat behind rounded desk.

Pidge rolled her eyes discreetly at the repetitive color scheme.

The others stayed quiet as they waited to be introduced.

The guards stopped in front of the desk and kneeled, bowing their heads. “Great leader, we bring you our guests.” they spoke respectfully.

The leader stood and moved around his desk. He wore a fluffy white and blue robe that hang all the way down to his feet. It was also adored with several gems and jewels in different shades of blue. “Welcome to Wuzherf. I am Nizert, the leader of this great planet.” he spoke regally, bowing slightly at the group. “It is such a great honor to meet the Paladins of Voltron. Please, how may we help you?” 

Keith was a little speechless for a moment before he snapped himself out of it and replied, walking ahead of the group to greet Nizert. “We need medical assistance urgently. Our princess has caught something and is getting worse. Can you help us?”

Nizert straightened instantly, looking over at Allura laying limp in Coran’s arms. Her skin was incredibly pale, cheeks flushed red from her high temperature. “Oh dear, of course. Hurry, this way.” he began walking to a side door of his office, typing a security code into the panel next to it to open the door. “We have the best medical facility right here in this building. We’ll be able to treat her there.” he said, pushing the door open for the paladins and Coran to walk though. The guards stayed behind.

Nizert lead them down several corridors, all white and exactly the same, it was like a maze. The group would surely get lost if they tried to navigate the halls themselves. “It’s just up ahead. I’ll have the best medical technician meet us.” Nizert explained.   

They came up to a frosted glass double door. Nizert pressed the green button on the side of the wall, opening the door with a woosh. “Please come, I will find a spare bed for your princess to lay in.” he walked into the facility. “Hezzup, our guests need your attention. Their princess is unwell. I expect a full diagnosis in the next 10 doboshes.” 

A smaller Wuzhertian in a white doctor coat and a blue apron rushed up to the group. “Yes, oh great leader.” He bowed at Nizert before turning his attention the Coran and Allura. “Ooooh, she is not in a good way. Quickly now, we must examine her so we can treat her as quickly as possible.” Hezzup pointed to a smaller room off to the side with a clean untouched bed.

Coran moved quickly as he was told, laying Allura down on the bed before moving away so Hezzup could begin his examination. The others moved into the back of the room as to not get in the way.

Hazzup pulled out a scanner and began scanning Allura’s head, shoulders and chest. “Hmmm, not good indeed.” he mused to himself as he continued.

“What do you mean not good?” Coran moved to stand next to Allura, but was pulled back by Keith grabbing his arm. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, concerned.

Hazzup turned off the scanner. “It looks like she has contracted a nasty virus. It is attacking her immune system, which is why she is getting worse. If she doesn’t get a cure soon, her body will continue to shut down and she will die.” he explained calmly.

“WHAT!!” Both Coran and Lance yelled in unison, running up to Allura’s bedside.

Coran grabbed Allura’s hand in his own, tears stinging in the corners of his eyes. “I can’t lose her too. She’s all I have left.”

Lance stayed quiet, biting his lip as he fought back his own tears. 

Keith and Pidge came up next to them. Pidge’s eyes wide in shock, her cheeks wet with silent tears. She gripped the bed sheets until her knuckles turned white.

“Can you help her?” Keith asked. 

Everyone turned their attention to Hazzup in anticipation. 

“I can.” Hazzup assured. 

Everyone let out the breath they were holding in relief.

“But it will take time.” He continued. “The virus is embedded deep within her cells. The cure will flush out any live toxins and kill the virus, however as she is weak, her body will take a while to heal. We could put her in a healing pod to accelerate the process, if that’s alright?”

“YES! Yes, anything that will help her, please, she’s very important to us.” Coran begged.

Hazzup looked over at Keith, Lance and Pidge, all of them nodding in agreement. “Alright, then I will need you all to leave. The process needs to be done in quarantine as to not spread the virus. I am sure Nizert will be kind enough to offer you all a place to stay until she is healed. I will come and get you in a some varga when the princess is on her way to being fully healed.” he stated, moving away to grab his equipment. 

Coran squeezed Allura’s hand. “Don’t worry princess. You’ll be as good as new soon enough.” He leant down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before letting go of her hand. He walked out the door where Nizert was awaiting them. 

Pidge patted Allura’s shoulder gently, “Get well soon, princess.” she said softly before leaving to join Coran.

Lance stood still at Allura’s bedside, just watching as Allura took raspy breaths. He didn’t know what to do or say. 

Keith touched his arm gently, breaking him out of his trance. “She’s going to be alright, we’ll see her again soon.” he said, reassuringly. “Come on, we need to go.” he let go of Lance’s arm and joined the others outside.

Lance looked back down at Allura one last time. “Come back to us, princess. We need you.” he whispered, gathering her hand between his and pressing his lips against the back of it briefly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself before placing her hand back down on the bed and joining the others.

\---

Nizert had taken them to another part of the building to wait. It wasn’t as close to the medical room as they would have liked, but at least here they could be comfortable. There was a small kitchenette in the corner that has a fridge and what looked like a microwave type machine. There was also a few small tables and chairs to eat at. On the other side of the room were several long couches and throw pillows of different sizes. 

Coran was currently eyeing the wall lined with bookcases full of books and odd artifacts to keep himself preoccupied.

Pidge was busying herself the only way she knew how; on her computer, cooped up at the far table, with her back to everyone else as she worked on whatever project she had going at the moment.

Lance was seated on one of the couches clutching a pillow to his chest, staring off into space, deep in thought, his right leg bouncing anxiously.

Keith looked around the room at his teammates and family. He knew they were all dealing with the situation in their own ways, but he didn’t know how to help any of them. He was never any good at consoling people, never knew what the right thing to say was without upsetting them further. He crossed his arms as he thought. He may not be able to offer them words of comfort, but he could help them in other ways.

Walking over to the kitchen, he grabbed four glasses from the cupboard and filled them with water from the cold jug on the bench. Once filled he took two of them and headed over to Pidge first. He placed the glass on the table in front of her. “Here, make sure you keep your fluids up. We don’t need anyone else getting sick.” he joked lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

Pidge looked up at him and then down at the glass, offering a small smile. “Thanks Keith.” she replied, taking a long sip of water.

He smiled back and nodded, patting her on her head, ruffling her hair a bit which caused her to yelp in fake annoyance, swatting his hand away. He chuckled, leaving her to fix her hair and go back to typing away on her computer. One down, two to go. Keith thought to himself.

Next he headed over to Coran, who was picking up books and examining them before putting them back to repeat the process with another book. “Have some water Coran, it’s been a while since any of us have had any.” He said, offering the glass to the older man.

Coran put the book he just picked up back in its place. “Oh, ah, thanks Keith.” he took a sip as his eyes scanned the bookshelf again.

“Find anything interesting?” Keith asked, curiously.

“Hmm, not particularly. They all seem to be fictional stories.I was hoping to find a history book or something so we could learn more about the Wuzerfian culture while we wait.” Coran replied, sighing in disappointment.

Keith looked over to the bookcase and hummed, thinking his question over. “Hey Coran, if a planet had been allies and friends with Altea, wouldn’t it have been written in Altean history?” he asked.

Coran turned to Keith, almost excited at the idea of talking about Altean history. “Oh, most definitely. Altea had the most extensive records. There wasn’t anything that was left out. I know because I’ve read every single Altean history book that was ever created!” He exclaimed.

Keith frowned for a moment, thinking to himself. If what Coran said was correct, then why didn’t Coran know of this planet..? 

“Is something the matter? You look worried about something.” Coran asked, breaking him from his train of thought.

“Ah, no. It’s probably nothing.” Keith said, shaking his head. “I’ll leave you to your book search.” he walked off, back towards the kitchen. He didn’t want to worry the others at the moment. Once Allura was safely healed he’d get to the bottom of it. Grabbing the last two glasses of water he walked over to the couch were Lance was seated and sat next to him.

“Here, you should drink something.” he stated, offering the water to Lance. 

Lance took one look at the water before shaking his head. “I can’t right now.” he replied solemnly, clutching the pillow tighter to his chest.

“Allura wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself while you waited for her. Can you please just try and have a bit?” Keith reasoned, pushing the glass in front of Lance again.

Lance sighed frustratingly, but let go of the pillow enough to take the glass and have a sip form it before glaring at Keith. “There. Happy now?” he asked sarcastically.

Keith didn’t fall for the bait, like he once might have. Instead he just smiled gently. “Yes, thank you.” 

Lance frowned at him and pouted. “Since when do you have manners?” he said, trying to get a rise out of his old rival.

Keith just smiled again knowingly as he took a large sip from his own glass of water. “It’s not going to work Lance. I know what you’re trying to do and why. Fighting isn’t going to make you feel any better.” he stated.

Lance sunk back into the couch to sulk, pulling the pillow back up to his chest and one of his feet up onto the seat, knee leaning against the armrest. “Fine Mr. Wise Guy, what's your suggestion then?” he snapped, eyes glued to Keith, waiting for an answer.

Keith sat back and pulled his knee up across the seat so he was facing Lance. He sighed, not really knowing what to say. He suddenly felt really exhausted. “I… uh… I’m not good at this sort of thing…” he admitted sheepishly, staring down at the contents of his glass.

Lance just gave him a pointed look and waiting for him to continue.

Keith looked up to meet Lance’s gaze, feeling determined. “Look, I know this is hard, we all care about Allura, but she’s being treated right now, so all we can do is wait for her to get out of the healing pods. We got her the help she needed in time and that’s what’s important.” he finished, sincerely. 

Lance dropped his gaze. “But we almost didn’t. What if we had of gone to Olkarion like I suggested? Huzzup said she was dying, we would have lost her and it would have been all my fault.” he muttered into the pillow.

Keith frowned and reached forward to grab Lance’s arm to get his attention. “Hey, don’t think like that. I thought it was a good idea too, so it would have been my fault as well. But none of that matters now because it’s in the past. We’re here now and Allura is going to be fine.” He stated, his vision starting to blur slightly.

Lance looked up at Keith again, not expecting him to console him. The others usually just brushed him off, or not listen as he rambled on about his thoughts or feelings... But here Keith was, sitting with him, actually listening to him and trying to make him feel better. A small feeling flitted through his chest as he smiled at Keith. “Thanks man, I really appreciate th---” His sentence was cut short as Keith’s eyes glazed over and he began to slump forwards. “KEITH?” Lance yelled, throwing his cup down to pull the now unconscious man into his lap.

Around him he heard two loud thuds and a smash. He looked up quickly to see Pidge passed out over her laptop, and Coran on the floor, his glass in pieces next to him. “What the hell is going on!” Lance yelled. Suddenly, a funny feeling went through his head as he was hit with a sudden head rush. He winced and closed his eyes, gripping tightly at his head to try to stop the pain. Darkness soon followed, and he fell limp against the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! Hahaha 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter <3  
> Next chapter is gonna be interesting and I'm excited to start that soon!!
> 
> Feel free to come yell Voltron or Klance at me on my tumblr @forsakenangel88


	3. Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, Keith, Pidge and Coran find themselves in some trouble and someone unlocks a new power!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really hard for me to write! I really struggle with writing fight scenes and adding detail to the environment so shout out to winter-and-little-brunettes for being the most amazing beta and bringing this chapter to the amazing level that it is!
> 
> I really love some of the stuff that happens this chapter so I am excited to hear what you guys think!!

 

When Keith opened his eyes, he was staring out at the ocean. As he looked around, he wasn’t sure if it was the same ocean as before. There were no landmarks to distinguish the area, not in the land or sea, but he noted that the sun was setting on the horizon. The sky was plastered red and blue, creating a soft purple gradient where they met, instead of the night sky he had seen last time. There was no one around, so he decided to just walk along the shoreline, letting the small waves wash over his feet as they came into the shore. 

 

He walked for what seemed like hours, but the sun didn’t move from its location as he ambled along. It was like time had just… stopped. Keith couldn’t help but wonder why he was brought here again. He slowed to a stop in his tracks with a frown, realizing he had no memory of even falling asleep… He shouldn’t be in this dream world right now. His eyes fluttered closed, and he tried to think about what had happened. It took a few long moments, but foggy memories started coming back to him... Allura was sick. So they went to … A planet. They met Nizert, then Allura was diagnosed by Hazzup. He could remember consoling the others in the room, then... Nothing. The very last thing he remembers is talking to Lance. 

 

At the thought of Lance, he was once again struck with a powerful energy throughout his entire body. His eyes flew open at the overwhelming sensation, and he sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to recover. When he finally looked around, he saw a group of people standing not too far from where he was. He couldn’t figure out where they came from, suddenly, but tried not to think too much of it. He could make out the team gathered together in small groups; Pidge and Hunk were huddled over a computer screen, speaking technical terms Keith didn’t understand, while Allura, Coran and Shiro were staring up at a map, discussing a plan of somesort. Keith’s mind didn’t compute that it was strange for them to be here, since he was more focused on the dark figure standing to the side by themself, all previous thoughts about why he was asleep vanished. 

 

Frowning, he walked to the lonely figure, standing next to them as they watched the others work. “What’s going on?” Keith asked, turning to face the person next to him. The shadow that had enveloped the figure before had dissipated a bit, revealing some of the figure’s face. He could now see that it was Lance. 

 

“Everyone’s working.” Lance said with no emotion as he just stared out at their friends.

 

Keith turned back to the others, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah…? But why are you just standing here on your own?” he asked, confused. 

 

“I have nothing to offer them.” Lance stated as if it was obvious, as the world around them began to fade.

 

Keith was shocked and beyond confused. “What are you talking about?” he turned back to face Lance. 

 

Lance just offered a small sad smile before everything disappeared. 

  
  


\---

  
  


As Keith came back around, he groaned, his head feeling heavy and fuzzy somehow. The rest of his body numb, like the static of an old television, and his eyes felt like they were glued shut. He laid there for a moment, trying to remember what happened and where he was. Slowly, his fingers and toes began to tingle as feeling came back to them. He clenched his fingers into the surface they were on, trying to get some indication of where he was.

 

He could vaguely feel stretchy material bunching up beneath his fingertips. There was movement under his hand as he continued clenching and unclenching his fingers, working out the pins and needles, but his mind didn’t really register it. His head began to clear up slowly as feeling returned to the rest of his body. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, trying to will away the headache that was pounding between his ears. When that didn’t work right away, he tried to bury his head further into whatever hard surface his cheek was plastered against.

 

After a few more moments, the ringing in his ears subsided and he was finally able to open his eyes. He blinked a few times to clear the fuzziness from his vision, when suddenly, the thing he was lying on began to move and groan under his weight. It made Keith stop and try even harder to regain focus.  _ That _ sounded like a human groan. With all of his energy, he pushed himself up with his arms, which ended up being quite difficult as there was weight on his back, laying across his shoulders. 

 

Looking down, he realised he was laying on someone, and his face had been resting on the hard surface of their paladin armor. His arms were currently on either side of this person as he pushed himself up further. Lifting his head, he came face to face with Lance, who had just opened his eyes. It took a moment for either of them to realise the position they were in. They were both lying on a couch pressed up against each other, with their arms around each other, and barely inches apart. Their eyes widened as they stared at each other. Keith felt like time had stopped again, but this time he knew it wasn’t a dream. He could feel Lance’s breath puffing against his lips, and his back was still warm from Lance’s body heat.

 

Keith could feel his heart pounding in his chest and see the blush consuming Lance’s cheeks, which he was sure matched his own. He felt at loss for words, just staring into the depths of Lance’s blue eyes. His eyes were swirling with several emotions, almost too fast to catch, and it was memorizing to Keith to watch them flicker. 

 

Lance moved his arm from around Keith’s shoulders, breaking the trance they had been in. “I… Uh… What happened?” Lance stuttered out, breaking eye contact with Keith and grabbing at his head, which was still feeling fuzzy.

 

Keith sat up off of Lance and looked around. “I’m not sure.” He admitted. “We must have been drugged or something.” he said with a frown. His own head was still pounding with a dull thud. He heard two other groans in the room and looked over to see Pidge and Coran starting to wake up as well.

 

Lance quickly stood up and made his way over to Coran with only a slight stumble, and helped the older man sit up.

 

Once Lance left his side, Keith went over to help Pidge. There were marks on her forehead from where she’d been pressed into her keyboard for who knows how long. How long were they out?

 

“Urg. What the hell happened?” Pidge whined, rubbing her head. “I feel like I was hit by a truck.” 

 

Lance brought Coran over to the table and helped him sit in the chair across from Pidge. “We were drugged.” he stated firmly. The fuzziness in his head was practically gone now. “It must have been the water, what else could it’ve been?”

 

Keith crossed his arms and frowned. “Why would they drug us, but then just leave us here?” he mused. “Why not take us to a cell?”

 

Lance frowned and turned to walk over to the door. He attempted to open it, but quickly realized there was no handle to open the door with. It was an automatic sliding door, which meant if it didn’t open on its own, they were trapped. Growling to himself, he looked around before spotting the emergency open button next to the door. Slamming his palm against it, he waited for the door to open with a swoosh, but after a few seconds, nothing happened. He slammed the button several more times angrily before turning back to the others with a scowl.

 

Keith sighed in frustration. “Well then, I guess this is our cell.” He bit his lip in thought as Lance joined them at the table again.

 

“We need to get out of here.” Lance said determinedly. “They still have Allura and we have no idea how long we’ve been out for.” He was starting to feel anxious about the whole situation.

 

Pidge turned back to her computer and started typing away furiously. “I can hack the door and get us out.” She said assuredly. A few moments later she growled loudly in frustration. “They’ve hacked my computer and disabled a few things. Just give me a tick to do a reboot.” 

 

“We don’t have time, let’s just break down the door!” Lance shouted impatiently, marching back over to the door and began to kick at it with vigor. The door vibrated beneath the force of his blows, but didn’t break, or even budge. He growled in frustration and tried again and again, but the door didn’t budge.

 

Keith walked up to him and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You’re just going to end up hurting yourself.” he said softly, and urged Lance a few steps back from the door. “Lets try our bayards.” he suggested instead.

 

Lance nodded, and pulled out his red bayard. As soon as it transformed into his red rifle, he lined up his sights to aim at the door. He shot at the door several times, but the only damage left on the door was a few scorch marks. He threw his hands up in the air and yelled out in frustration.

 

“Lance, please… Getting frustrated isn’t going to help.” Keith said soothingly. If Lance was getting irritated, the rest of the team wouldn’t be far behind him. “Lemme try, alright?” he said as calmly as he could, even though he felt just as irritated. He was trying so hard to stay level-headed about the situation, but he felt just as Lance did. But as the leader, he had to stay calm and collected and lead his team out of this.

 

Lance didn’t say anything, but nodded in agreement. He took a few steps to the side, moving out the way so Keith could give the door his best beating.

 

Keith pulled out his black bayard and formed his sword. With determination, he marched up to the door, jammed the sword in between the door and its frame, and twisted with all his might. He hoped that since Lance’s method didn’t work, this might be able to pry the door open that way. But it didn’t budge. 

 

Both Keith and Lance groaned in frustration. 

 

“You know, if you could just give me 10 minutes I can hack the door…” Pidged piped up from behind them. She sounded completely unamused and tired of their actions as she kept typing away on her computer. “It’ll save you two all this effort.” 

 

Coran hummed thoughtfully as he began to feel better. “Why don’t you try destroying the emergency button? It might disengage the locking system.” he offered with a shrug.

 

Lance and Keith shared a look and smirked. Keith motioned for Lance to have the honours, and Lance pulled out his rifle with a flourish.

 

“Guys, I really don’t think that’s a good--” Pidge started as Lance took his shot, destroying the button and successfully opening the door. As soon as the door shot open, a loud alarm started blaring down the hallway. Pidge slapped a palm to her forehead with a groan. “And that’s what I was afraid of.” She sighed. 

 

Keith turned back to Lance with a smile. “Great work, Lance!” He exclaimed, before turning to Pidge and Coran. “Come on, we gotta go find Allura and get the hell out of here.” He urged, and ran out the door, Lance following close behind.

 

Coran jumped up and threw his fist into the air. “Woohoo! This is exciting!” He yelled out, and quickly followed the two men out the door. He usually missed all the craziness of missions while being stationed on the Castle of Lions. This was like an adventure to him.

 

Pidge just rolled her eyes. “I’m surrounded by idiots.” She mumbled to herself as she grabbed her laptop, shoving it in her bag quickly before following the group.

 

The four of them ran down the white corridor as the alarm blared around them. They kept a fast pace, moving quickly but quietly down the hallway since they all knew it would only be a matter of time before they ran into someone. They soon came up to an intersection of corridors which caused them to stop and look around. But all of the halls looked identical, so they had no idea which way to turn. 

 

“Uhhh, does anyone remember the way to the medical bay?” Lance panted out, scanning the halls for any clue that might hint at which direction they were supposed to go.

 

Pidge pulled out her laptop, checking to see if it had finally finished rebooting. “We don’t even know if she’s still there?” She crouched down and began typing away quickly on her keyboard. “They could have moved her somewhere else.”

 

Coran peered over her shoulder. “What are you doing, number five?” he asked.

 

“We don’t have a lot of time. I’m sure there are people on the way to take us down.” Keith butted in before Pidge could reply.

 

“Well if you two were patient like I asked, then we wouldn’t be in this mess now.” She stated, matter of factly. “I swear, the both of you are practically two sides of the same coin sometimes.” she muttered as she continued typing away.

 

Lance and Keith glanced over at each other, both obviously confused by Pidge’s words. They both thought they were more opposites than similar. That’s why they argued a lot, right? Though, they hadn’t had any arguments in a while, even before Keith was gone for two years. Since Keith became the Black Paladin the first time, they’d been getting along better, learning to work beside each other. 

 

“Ah ha! Got it!” Pidge suddenly exclaimed, bringing their attention back to her. “I hacked into their camera feeds so we can see what they see, and I also managed to pull up a map of this place.” She explained, turning her laptop to face the boys as she talked. “It looks like Allura has been taken back to Nizert’s office. There are only a few guards in the room, so we should be able to take them out quickly with just the four of us.” she explained.

 

Lance crouched down to get a better look at the computer screen, trying to get a glimpse of Allura. “Is she okay? Have they hurt her? Is she still sick? Did they even try to help her?” He fired out question after question rapidly, anxiously wanting to know if she was alright.

 

Suddenly, someone yelled down the hallway, followed by quickly approaching footsteps. 

 

“Quick, we gotta move!” Keith shouted, pulling out his bayard. “Lance, cover the rear. I’ll take out any that come from the front. Pidge, you lead the way, and Coran, you stay between Lance and I so we can protect you.” he ordered.

 

Lance stood quickly and pulled out his bayard, moving to the back of the group. “I got us covered.” he said, following Keith’s orders.

 

Coran moved into position as Pidge began to lead them down the left corridor. “It’s just up a little further, but we will need to get through that security door Nizert took us through from his office.” Pidge explained, keeping an eye on her computer as she ran. 

 

“Can you hack the door?” Coran asked as Lance fired off some shots. The group of Wuzherfs were closing in on them, but they were still only coming from behind, for now.

 

“No need. I was watching Nizert when he entered in his passcode. Once I get to the panel, I can enter it and we’ll be right to go.” Pidge said smugly. “Take a right here and the door is at the end.”

 

Coran smiled brightly. “You’re amazing, Pidge!” he praised. “What would we do without you?”

 

Pidge simply smiled. “I know. And you would all probably be dead or captured.” She joked lightly. 

 

Lance gritted his teeth as he listened on to his friends behind him, still firing at the group that were chasing them. He knew that nobody would ever praise him like that. He didn’t have a skill that was useful enough to save the group in a dire situation like Pidge or Keith. The feeling made him feel hollow and empty inside, but he pushed it aside to concentrate on the task at hand. He’d worry about it later.

 

They came up to the door just as Pidge said. She walked up to the panel and entered the passcode, stepping back as the door swooshed open. But as the door opened, they came face to face with a large group of Wuzherfs who had their guns aimed at their chests. 

 

“Oh, quiznack.” Coran muttered as a group behind them closed in on them as well. They were trapped. 

 

Nizert walked up to stand behind the group of soldiers. “Put your weapons down and we will not harm you or your princess.” he commanded, gesturing with his hand to where Allura was. She was still asleep, prone on the side of the room in a portable hospital bed.

 

Keith glanced over to Allura, then back to Nizert with a glare. They didn't have a choice, they had to follow Nizert’s orders. They were outnumbered, and the Wuzherfs still had Allura in their grasp. He glanced back to his friends, and deactivated his bayard from the sword. “Stand down, guys.” he instructed lowly, raising his hands to surrender.

 

Pidge frowned, but put her computer away before doing the same. 

 

Coran didn’t say anything, but had a look of concern as he too raised his hands.

 

Lance breathed out a long sigh while letting his gun morph back into its bayard form, raising his hands up in the same motion. “You better not have hurt Allura.” he grunted as they were shoved into the office.

 

All four of them were pushed to the ground, laying on their stomachs as their arms were pulled behind their backs. 

 

Nizert came up to stand right in front of them, bent down in front of Lance and patted his head like a dog. “Of course not, my dear paladin. We need the princess alive and well. We cured her just like we said we would.” He motioned over to Allura. “She is currently sleeping. She is to be our gift to the Galra.” he explained before standing up and walking over to her.

 

Keith twisted his head up so he could look up at the leader. “What are you talking about?” he growled out.

 

“A few quintants ago, a galra army was sent to conquer us.” Nizert began. “Their leader noticed how advanced our technology was and decided that we were more useful alive and under their control than obliterated. We were to do research for them and report back every quintant, if we had no new results, they would come and kill one random citizen for every day we had no new information for them.” he explained, as he stared down at the sleeping princess with a mournful look. 

 

Nizert looked up again and walked back over to the Paladins, stopping in front of them. ”I overheard their leader one day talk about some important witch and her desire to find an Altean Princess. I knew right away that she was our key to freeing my people.” He bent down to look at each of the paladins in turn, ignoring the glares they offered him. “Our offering will save countless lives.” he concluded.

 

Pidge scoffed at Nizert’s story. “Do you even know who we are? We are paladins of Voltron, we protect and save planets from the Galra! Did you not think to just ask us for help?” she spat out.

 

Nizert stood again and walked back behind his desk, putting some space between he and them. “You may be paladins, but I know there are supposed to be five of you! And only four of you are in armor, and your princess isn’t even in a condition to fight. How could you possibly help us?!” he exclaimed angrily, slamming his fists on the table top.

 

Keith rolled up into a sitting position, but was quickly pushed back down with a knee between his shoulder blades. “You underestimate our abilities.” he threatened lowly. “We have three lions here. We are more than a match for some galra troops.” he hissed out.

 

Nizert slammed his fists against the table again causing the room to be silent. “THAT’S ENOUGH!” he shouted, cutting off any rebuttal the paladins had. “We will be offering the princess over to the galra and that is final!” He exclaimed with a note of finality. He didn’t have time for alternative plans; the galra were on their way and he needed to save his people. He took in a deep breath before turning to some other Wuzherfs off to the side. “Guards! Take these four to our most secure cells. Make sure to take their weapons off them.” He ordered. “They won’t be needing them anymore.”

 

The group of guards began to roughly pick up Keith, Lance, Pidge and Coran from the ground, dragging them upright into a standing position. Lance let himself go lax, letting the guards do what they will, even though his teammates were struggling against their captors. He took a moment to scan the room calmly, looking for anything he could use to his advantage to get his team out before their weapons were confiscated. His gaze fell onto Allura, who was trying to scan the room between slitted eyes, still trying to appear asleep.

 

Without any further thought, Lance started thrashing about in his guard’s grip. He stomped the heel of his boot against his captor’s foot, and bashed his head back sharply into his nose, causing his grip on him to loosen. He spun wildly, pulled out his gun and started shooting at the guards holding onto his teammates, hoping to keep the attention on him.

 

It worked; everyone, even his own teammates, zoned in on what he was doing, and not to the supposedly sleeping princess behind them. Pidge shrieked at Lance for shooting a blast a little close to her shoulder, and Keith even looked concerned. But his teammates all understood when the sound of a familiar whip whistled through the air, winding up the remaining guards and scattering them to the sides of the room.

 

“ALLURA!” Coran, Pidge and Keith cheered, happy that she was finally awake.

 

Allura whirled around from her spot beside her medical bed to face Nizert. “I understand the desperate measures you took to save your people, but this isn’t the way to be free.” she scolded, stalking up to the leader. “The galra would just take me and continue to use your people until they had no more use for them!”

 

Nizert looked down somenly as she spoke.

 

Allura took one of his hands between hers. “Please, let us help you. It’s our duty as Paladins.”

 

After a few moments, Nizert lifted his head to meet her gaze and nodded. He looked over to where the guards were beginning to stand up. “Release them.” he ordered, before looking back to Allura. “Please forgive me, princess, I just wanted to save my people. I did not see any other way.” he begged.

 

“Whoa, hold up Allura!” Lance called out, drawing everyone’s attention over to him as he walked up to her. “You can’t seriously be offering to help these guys after everything they’ve done!” He huffed out in an annoyed tone, crossing his now free arm across his chest.

 

Keith walked up to Lance’s side, mirroring Lance’s cross-armed stance. “He has a point. We didn't do anything to provoke this attack, and as I said earlier, if they had just asked us, we would have been more than happy to help you.” he agreed. 

 

Coran twisted his mustache between his thumb and forefinger. “This is true, but they still saved Allura’s life.” he stated. “We do owe them that.”

 

Lance frowned. “They only saved her life for their own selfish reasons!” he argued back. “I say we leave them here to deal with the galra themselves.”

 

“Lance, that’s a little harsh don’t you think?” Pidge cut in, frowning at Lance’s attitude. “The important thing is that Allura is well again. Besides, they didn’t cause us any unnecessary harm.” She looked over to Allura and Nizert. “We don’t really have time to be arguing about this. If Allura wants to help, then that’s what we’ll do.”

 

Lance huffed and crossed his arms even tighter over his chest, but didn’t argue further. Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder in reassurance. 

 

Allura smiled at Pidge before turning back to Nizert. “You are a good and caring leader, and I owe you my life. We will defeat the galra together and free your planet.”

 

Nizert bowed his head, “Thank you, princess. We are truly in your debt.” he replied humbly. “Please come to our meeting room. There we can discuss the best way to defeat the galra.” 

 

Nizert walked out his office door, with everyone following him. He lead them down the corridor to another grand door and opened it to reveal a large room with a triangle shaped table in the middle. The paladins, Coran, Nizert and a few Wuzherf soldiers took seats around the table and began the discussion. 

 

“The galra fleet is due to arrive in about a varga.” Nizert started. “We sent word to them once the princess was well enough to travel, and we were told to deliver the princess into their care.” he explained. 

 

“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Keith asked, looking over to his friends for ideas.

 

“I think we should leave a trap for them.” Lance suggested. “They don’t know the Wuzherf are working with us. They could still offer up Allura, but before the exchange is made we swoop in with our lions and take them by surprise.” 

 

Pidge hummed in thought. “That’s not a bad idea. I could hide the green lion close by to monitor the situation.” she offered in addition. 

 

“Coran and I can offer ground support since the blue lion isn’t here.” Allura added, then turned to look over to Nizert. “Would you be able to provide Coran with a weapon?” she asked.

 

Nizert nodded. “Of course, princess. We will also have guards and soldiers stationed in hiding. There will be nowhere the Galra can escape to once the attack has begun.” 

 

“Sounds like we have a solid plan, then.” Keith commented. “Allura, Coran, you two stay here and get into position. Lance, Pidge and I will get to our lions, but Lance and I will stay back in the forest until Pidge gives us the signal to fly in.” he instructed, getting up from the table. 

 

Everyone nodded in agreement and got up to get into position. Keith, Lance and Pidge exited the building to return to their lions, while Coran was handed a gun and taught how to use it before going into hiding with the other Wuzherf soldiers. Allura climbed back onto the bed and pretended to be asleep, waiting for the galra. 

  
  


\---

  
  


About half a varga later, a galra cruiser came down into the atmosphere of Wuzherf. Several smaller pods ejected from the cruiser and came to land in the city.  

 

“Hold your positions.” Keith spoke through the coms as they watched the Galra carefully through the camera feed Pidge and the green lion were providing them.

 

Nizert walked down the stairs of the main building to greet the galra commander.

 

“Are you the leader of this forsaken planet?” The commander asked as Nizert stopped in front of him. 

 

“Yes, my name is Nizert. I was the one who contacted you about the altean princess we have secured for you.” he bowed respectfully as he introduced himself.

 

“Very well. I am Drygar, the commander on this mission.” The galra said, walking around Nizert calmly to stare up at the pyramid building. “I will be taking the princess into our care. Bring her out at once, and we will leave peacefully.” he commanded.

 

Nizert nodded, “Yes, Commander Drygar, I will go and bring her out for you immediately.” he said, before rushing up the stairs and into the building. A few moments later, he returned with another Wuzherf, wheeling the bed with Allura out and down the steps.

 

In a matter of seconds, Allura was up, bayard out and whipping Drygar to the ground. 

 

“NOW!!” Pidge yelled, her lion becoming visible as she charged forward to take out some galra soldiers.

 

Coran and the Wuzherf soldiers stormed out of the building, running down the stairs, shooting at any galra they could find. Allura helped with her bayard, knocking the enemy soldier’s feet out from under them. 

 

The black and red lions shot up from their hiding places to join the fray. 

 

“Lance, help me take down the cruiser!” Keith ordered, flying the black lion up towards the cruiser.

 

“On it, I’ll take out these fighters.” Lance replied, blasting fighter jets with his lion’s blaster out of the sky. 

 

Keith flew through the area Lance had cleared for him and aimed his blaster at the side, cutting down the length of it as he moved, causing half the ship to explode. But it didn’t stop the galra from trying to shoot at him. He twisted his lion in and out of the beams expertly, aiming another shot at the cruiser from the other side.

 

As Lance flew by, he noticed that the battle cruiser had started aiming it’s ion cannon towards the black lion. “KEITH!” he shrieked, and flew red as fast as he could towards the cannon as it began to power up. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as he zeroed in on the cannon aiming at his teammate. He wanted,  _ needed _ to get there faster so he could take it down before Keith got hurt. Nothing else mattered.

 

Suddenly, he felt a powerful energy radiate through him as he powered forward. The red lion roared loudly, and suddenly a new function popped up on his dashboard; the massive cannon on the red lion’s back. Upon seeing it, he immediately knew what he had to do to save Keith. With a loud battle cry, he aimed and shot down the ion cannon with a massive beam of energy from red’s back.

 

“Whoa!” Lance gasped out in shock, revelling in the power he had just felt. He’d never felt anything like this in the red lion… Unlocking this lion’s power was different than unlocking blue’s, their energies felt different, yet, similar somehow. 

 

The black lion quickly finished off the cruiser and came up to red as the canon on red’s back disappeared in a flash of vibrant light. Keith opened a video link between the two lions, smiling widely when he saw Lance’s face pop up on the screen. “Lance, that was amazing!” he exclaimed. “Thanks for taking out that cannon. I didn’t even notice it until it was too late.” he commended, grateful that he wasn’t hit. They really didn’t need an out of commission lion on top of everything else that was going on. 

 

“Uhh, you’re welcome, I guess.” Lance laughed, still in shock as he stared at Keith through the video feed. “I have no idea how that happened.” he said in wonder.

 

Keith just smiled. “You managed to connect to red. I knew you’d be able to eventually, red’s just very tempermental. Your emotions and desires have to be completely in sync.” he explained. 

 

Lance mulled over Keith’s words for a moment, looking out over the broken pieces of the galra cruiser and fighters distantly. As soon as he’d seen the ion cannon aiming at Keith, the only thing he could think about was protecting him. He’d had similar thoughts about the others as well in previous situations, but none of the other times felt as powerful. He’d never felt so strongly about something in his whole life. Lance glanced down to Keith again, who was still looking at him with a soft smile on his face. “Huh…” he said simply. The red lion had always been protective of Keith, so maybe that’s what made the connection so powerful? But, he didn’t truly think that was all there was to it...

 

“Guys, we are all clear down here. How’re you doing?” Pidge’s voice broke through Lance’s thoughts.

 

“Cruiser has been taken out, we’re all clear.” Keith replied back, glancing away from Lance through the connection. “We’re heading back down now.”

 

“See you soon.” Pidge said before dropping communication.

 

“Come on, let’s head down.” Keith said, turning back to Lance. 

 

“Roger that.” Lance replied, whirling the red lion around to fly down to the surface. 

 

They all met up at the front of the main building. There were galra sentry parts scattered all around; the pods damaged, smoke filtering up through the cracks and sparks of electricity firing through the air. 

 

“Good work, everyone!” Coran exclaimed, hands on his hips proudly.

 

Nizert smiled, beaming with happiness. “Yes, thank you everyone. We could not have done this without you.” he grabbed Allura’s hands and bowed his head. “We greatly appreciate your kindness, princess. We are truly sorry for how we treated you and your friends.” he said regretfully. 

 

Allura smiled gently, squeezing his hands reassuringly. “You are forgiven, my friend. We would be honored if you would join our coalition in the fight against the galra.”

 

Looking up, Nizert smiled. “Of course. My people will do all we can to help. If you ever need us, please let us know.” he assured.

 

Coran came up beside Allura and offered something small and white to Nizert. “Here is a communicator. If the galra cause you any more trouble, we will come to help as soon as we can.” he explained. 

 

Nizert gratefully took the communicator in his hand. “Thank you my friends. It is truly an honor to have met you all. I wish you good fortune for the future.” he said, bowing again in thanks.

 

Keith walked up to the group. “We should head off. The others are probably getting worried.” he said.

 

Allura nodded in agreement. “Alright, let’s go.” The group offered a wave to Nizert and his people before heading back to the lions in the forest. 

 

They were quiet until they breached the forest’s edge, until Lance stretched his arms above his head with a groan. “Well, that was a nightmare we didn’t need.” he grumbled.

 

“I am sorry to have put us in this situation.” Allura said sadly. “I will have to monitor the amount of power I use the in future so this doesn’t happen again.”

 

Lance turned to face her with a frown. “I wasn’t blaming you, Allura.” he said quickly, not wanting to make her feel bad. “We didn’t know they were going to turn on us.”

“Lance is right.” Coran agreed. “Besides, it all worked out in the end, and the most important thing is that you’re better. Now, we can continue our journey to Earth.” he concluded.

 

“I’ll contact Hunk when we get back to the lions and let him know we are on our way back.” Pidge added as they came to the fork in the path.

 

Keith nodded, “Sounds good. Send us the coordinates back to the others and we’ll be on our way back as quickly as we can.” 

 

“Can do.” Pidge replied before walking off down the path to the green and blue lion.

 

“Guess we’ll see you soon.” Lance waved as he followed her.

 

Coran, Allura and Keith walked back to the black lion quietly.  

 

Once they were all airborne, Pidge opened a video link with the yellow lion.

 

As soon as Hunk saw the others pop up on his screen he let out a big sigh of relief. “Oh my god, you guys are alright!” He exclaimed. “We were starting to worry, it’s been nearly a whole quintant since you left.” 

 

“Sorry, we would have checked in sooner but we had some galra issues.” Lance apologised. 

 

Shiro’s face came into view via Hunk’s communication. “Where you able to find someone to help Allura?” he asked worriedly.

 

Allura popped her head into Keith’s video feed. “I’m here! And feeling much better.” she greeted with a smile. “Sorry to have caused such a delay in our journey.”

 

Shiro breathed out a sigh of relief, grateful that she was alright. He offered her a smile in return, before saying, “As long as you’re alright and all of you are safe, then that’s all that matters.”

 

“We are on our way back now, so we’ll see you guys in a couple of vargas.” Keith stated. 

 

“Alright. See you guys soon, then.” Hunk said with a wave, before cutting communications.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOT!!! One side adventure done and dusted hahaha. I wonder what else is gonna pop up on their journey to earth :3
> 
> As always thank you for reading! Please leave a comment, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts <3
> 
> Feel free to come talk Voltron or Klance to me on my tumblr @forsakenange88 or twitter @forsakeangel88
> 
> Till next time <3


	4. Days 4 and 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings are revealed, lots of bonding, and Lance gets some closure!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG this chapter was so fun to write. It's the longest chapter yet, but I got it done in 3 days cause I just loved working on it haha
> 
> Sorry for the delay with this chapter too, I was working on last minute cosplay for a con I went to last weekend so didn't get any time to work on this!
> 
> As always, thank you to my amazing beta and best friend @winter-and-little-brunettes for looking over this and just being an amazing support! And to my best friend Hayden (@soricute on tumblr) for letting me use his idea!

 

The deserted planet was quiet as Hunk, Shiro, Krolia and Romelle waited for the rest of the team to return from their journey. The sun was just rising again, indicating the start of a new day as light filtered in through the dead trees, casting shadows on the cliff they were camping beside. 

 

Shiro, who had begun to feel better, walked out of the wooded area with Krolia with an armful of sticks. He dumped them next to Hunk, who had begun preparing the food Romelle had scavenged. 

 

Krolia placed some small creatures she had hunted down next to the wood. “This is all I could find.” She stated, indicating down at the small portion of food. “There doesn't seem to be much life left on this planet. We should move on as soon as we can.” She looked over to Shiro for confirmation.

 

Shiro nodded in agreement, and glanced around at their somewhat grim surroundings. “As soon as the others are back, we should plan our next move.”

 

Romelle walked up to the group, wringing her hands together nervously. “Surely they shouldn’t be much longer. They’ve already been gone nearly a whole quintant!” 

 

“They said they were on their way back, so we should see them soon.” Shiro assured, giving her a small smile. “Now that Allura is well again, we’ll be able to leave as soon as everyone is ready.”

 

“I’m just glad they are all making it back safely.” Hunk piped in as he continued to prep the food. “I really don’t like the idea of being split up, it makes us vulnerable.” he said uneasily.

 

Shiro hummed agreeingly. “I agree, but there wasn't a lot we could do. Allura is the only one who can fly the blue lion and we couldn’t just leave it here. Hopefully we won’t have any more issues before we get back to earth.” he shrugged, hopelessly.

 

Hunk looked up at him and levelled him with a look. “You know you just jinxed us right.” he deadpanned. 

 

Shiro chuckled softly and sighed. “We’ll try our best to stay out of any unnecessary danger and just deal with whatever comes our way.” He sat down on the ground next to the fire pit and began throwing some sticks into the pit. 

 

Krolia came up next to Shiro and helped him start a fire. “Don’t waste your energy on worrying about things we can’t control.” She soothed. “We still have a long way to go.” She bent down to blow softly on the embers, supporting the flame. 

 

Hunk went back to preparing the food, grabbing a creature to begin skinning it. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” he mumbled into the quiet.

  
  


\----

  
  


Hunk had just finished serving food when they heard the familiar roar of the black lion. 

 

Everyone looked up to see the three lions flying towards them coming into land. Shiro, Romelle, Krolia, Hunk, the space mice, and Keith’s wolf all ran up to greet them. 

 

The black lion was the first to open, revealing Keith, Coran and Allura, followed by red and green. Lance and Pidge walked over to the group standing in front of the black lion.

 

Hunk wrapped Lance and Pidge up in a group hug as soon as he could. “Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you guys are okay!” he exclaimed, tearing up. “We were so worried when we didn’t hear back from you for a while.” He let them go after giving one more squeeze, and swiftly turned to Pidge to talk about the status of the lions. There were a lot of technical terms and stuff Lance didn’t understand, so he stepped off to the side as quietly as he could.

 

The space mice ran straight to Allura, climbing up her armor to sit on her shoulders. They squeaked excitedly in her ear, happy that she was safe and well again.

 

Allura giggled as their whiskers tickled her neck. “I missed all of you as well.” she cooed, tickling one under its chin. “It’s good to be back.” She spun in a circle with a giggle before pulling them to her chest in a hug.

 

“We are happy to see you well again, Princess.” Shiro stated, smiling brightly at her. 

 

Allura couldn’t help but smile brightly in return. “Thank you. It looks like you are feeling better yourself.” she replied. 

 

“I am, thanks to you.” Shiro said earnestly.

 

Allura’s smile grew. “I’m glad that I was able to help.” 

 

Keith’s wolf interrupted them with a loud bark, springing up onto Keith and pushed him to the ground with a thud. His tail wagged all the while before giving Keith a big lick across his face. 

 

Keith laughed, and pushed his wolf off of his chest to sit up and wipe his face. “Hello to you, too.” he murmured, patting his friend on the head.

 

His wolf barked happily, wagging its tail as it bounced in place. 

 

Krolia came up and offered her hand to help Keith up. “I’m glad you have returned safely.” she said softly. 

 

Keith smiled, grabbing her hand to help lift himself up. “Thanks, we weren't expecting to be gone so long.” He looked around to the others. “Were you guys alright while we were gone?” he asked louder, addressing the entire group.

 

“It’s been really quiet here.” Shiro replied with a shrug. “But, we do need to move on soon, there isn’t much food left.” 

 

Hunk stepped up. “I just made some, though. We should all eat and plan our next move.” 

 

Keith nodded. “Alright, that sounds like a good idea.” he agreed as they began to walk over to the fire to sit down.

 

Once they all settled in and had food laid in front of them, Romelle was the first to speak. “So, what happened out there?”

 

“Oh yeah, I wanna know too!” Hunk joined in, between bites of food. 

 

Keith sighed and wondered how best to explain the events of the past day. He didn’t feel like explaining everything that had happened. He honestly just wanted to forget and move on. 

 

Pidge perked up and pushed her plate away to explain: “Basically, the natives took Allura in to heal her, but quickly betrayed us and tried to offer her to the galra in exchange for protection. They drugged us and locked us in a room so we wouldn’t get in the way.” She explained swiftly, not giving anyone any time to interject. “We woke up and quickly broke out of the room we were trapped in, only to be cornered and captured again.” she cast a narrow-eyed glance over to Keith and Lance as she said that. “That’s when Allura woke up and saved us. Then, we worked with the Wuzherf people to take down the galra fleet and save their people.” she concluded, and grabbed her plate again to continue eating as if her story was merely discussing the weather. 

 

Hunk and Romelle were speechless, their eyes wide and mouths open slightly. 

 

“You took down an entire fleet on your own?!” Shiro exclaimed incredulously. 

 

“It wasn’t really a whole fleet.” Lance interrupted. “But, the battle cruiser was pretty massive. The black lion had some difficulty doing damage to it on its own.” he explained.

 

Shiro frowned at that and looked over at Keith. “Why were you taking on the cruiser by yourself? Where were the red and green lions?” He questioned, irritated that Keith had put himself in unnecessary danger.

 

“Pidge was with us on the ground.” Coran interjected, drawing Shiro’s attention away from Keith. “She was an integral part of our plan to stop the galra.”

 

“What about Lance then?” Shiro looked over to Lance with a questioning gaze.

 

Lance’s eyes widened, not expecting such an accusing stare from the former leader of Voltron. Did Shiro really think that he would just leave Keith to deal with the galra cruiser on his own? How many times had he been there to save one of them? ...Does nobody remember any of those times? Maybe they thought even worse of him than he originally thought. He tried to take a deep breath to soothe the blood rushing to his ears. When he opened his mouth to reply, Keith spoke first, taking him by surprise. He couldn’t help but gape at Keith as he defended him.

 

“Lance was watching my back, and taking out all the fighter jets before they reached the surface.” Keith replied sternly, frowning at Shiro’s tone. “He even took out the ion cannon on his own. If he hadn’t of seen it in time, I would have been hit directly.” Keith’s gaze softened as he glanced over to Lance, meeting his gaze and making Lance’s heart skip a beat.

 

Shiro didn’t say anything, but noticed the soft look Keith was giving Lance. He made a mental note to ask about that later. 

 

“Woah, how did you take it out on your own? Those things are massive.” Hunk gasped, wanting to hear more of the story.

 

Lance blushed as he felt everyone’s attention move to him. He looked away from Keith to stare at the ground, avoiding everyone’s excited gazes. “I, uh… unlocked the red lion’s cannon.” he said bashfully, scratching the back of his head. 

 

“Congratulations, Lance!” Allura cheered excitedly, clapping her hands together. “I knew you’d be able to unlock it!”

 

“Good work, buddy!” Hunk called out, slapping Lance gently on the back in congratulations. 

 

“Thanks, guys.” Lance replied, smiling sheepishly. As much as he liked the attention, he still felt like his achievement wasn’t as acknowledged as everyone else's. It made him feel hollow inside, but he didn’t have time to think about that now. He pushed the feeling aside, and glanced around until he made eye contact with Keith again. The proud look in his eyes made Lance’s heart skip a beat. He quickly averted his eyes, a slight blush tinting his cheeks. “We should probably work on our plan though. I don’t want to waste another day.” He offered, trying to redirect everyone's attention away from himself.

 

“Right, anyone have any suggestions?” Shiro replied, looking around at everyone to prompt their suggestions. 

 

“We should try and make up some lost time.” Krolia started. “I think we should disperse some food amongst ourselves and just fly as far as we can without stopping.” 

 

“She has a point.” Pidge agreed, and pulled out her laptop to start typing rapidly. “We are roughly one quintant behind schedule. If we don’t take any breaks for the next quintant, we should be able to make up that time.” she concluded.

 

Shiro hummed in response, before looking over at the paladins. “Do you think you guys could last that long without a break?” he asked.

 

Everyone nodded. 

 

“The sooner we get to Earth, the better.” Hunk replied eagerly. “I really don’t like us travelling out in the open like this.”

 

“Then it’s agreed. Let’s pack up and get going.” Shiro commanded. “Hunk, can you and Romelle grab some food and water pouches and hand them out to everyone? We’ll need at least three per person.” he asked. 

 

“Sure thing!” Hunk replied, and stood up, offering a hand to Romelle to help her up before they walked to Yellow together.

 

Allura, Krolia and Pidge walked over to the campsite to pack up the sleeping materials while Coran packed up the cooking equipment.

 

Seeing everyone had everything covered, Lance walked over to where Kaltenecker was and untied her from the tree. “Come on girl, let’s go.” He said softly, and gave an insistent tug, trying to pull her towards his lion. But, she remained stationary, not even moving an inch. Lance sighed, and shook the rope a bit in frustration. “Come on. We… need… to… go.” He urged, each word emphasized with a tug on the rope. He spun on his heel and leaned into the rope with all of his weight, willing the stubborn girl to move, but, he had no luck.

 

“Need a hand?” Keith asked, coming up to stand next to Kaltenecker.

 

Lance spun around quickly in surprise, not having heard anyone walk up on him. “Oh, uh, sure.” he replied. “She’s a stubborn girl.” he joked, patting her head fondly. 

 

Keith chuckled slightly, crossing his arms comfortably across his chest. “How’d you get her in last time?”

 

“Uhhh, with great difficulty.” Lance said with a chuckle. “I had to push her from behind, it took forever.” he explained, placing one hand on his hip as he tried to think of a solution. 

 

Keith hummed, and bit at his lip while he thought. “Ok, well how about I push and you pull?” Keith suggested a moment later. “Maybe that will at least get her started?”

 

Lance smiled, his eyes flickering in the sunlight. “Sure, let's give it a go!” he replied, walking back in front of Kaltenecker. 

 

Keith walked up behind Kaltenecker and leant up against her behind. “You ready?” he called over to Lance.

 

“Yeah.” Lance called back as he began to pull, feeling Kaltenecker begin to move forward.

 

Slowly but surely they were able to get Kaltenecker back into the red lion. Both Lance and Keith where breathing heavily from the effort it took to get the stubborn cow inside.  

 

“I am really looking forward to not having to do that once we get back to Earth.” Lance huffed out between breaths, his hands on his hips as he tried to regain his breath. 

 

Keith leaned heavily up against a wall of the red lion. “Where are you going to keep her?” He asked, still trying to catch his own breath. 

 

Lance glanced back over to Kaltenecker. “We have a large property back home, I’m sure mum wouldn’t mind adding her to the family.”  

 

Keith noticed the softness in Lance’s face as he spoke about his home. It was nice to see this side of Lance again… “I’m sure she’ll love it there.” he spoke softly, not wanting to break the mood. 

 

Lance smiled. “Yeah.” He replied quietly. Suddenly, he realized that he never really thanked Keith for his actions before. How he immediately stood up for him… Stood up for him in front of Shiro, the man who was closest to Keith. He can’t even imagine what sort of relationship they have, or what it took for Keith to say those things… For him. With a surely sheepish face, he turned back to face Keith. “Thanks, Keith.” he said sincerely.

 

Keith smiled at him. “No problem. I’m glad that we were able to get her on board so quickly.”

 

Lance’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Not about that… well yes, thank you for helping with Kaltenecker, but… I meant earlier when you stood up for me.” he rambled quickly, slightly embarrassed that he was making such a big deal about it. 

 

Keith frowned. “Oh. I mean, you don’t have to thank me for that? I was just telling Shiro how it was.” he stated, confused. “I don’t know why he got so worked up for, but I’ll talk to him later about it.” 

 

Lance’s eyes widened as he waved his hands about in front of him. “Oh, no, no. Don’t make it into a big deal! I’m sure he was just worried about you.” he said quickly, trying to disperse the tension.

 

Keith frowned at Lance again, crossing his arms over his chest. “Us. He’d be worried about all of us.” he said firmly, trying to get Lance to understand that he’s important too. 

 

Lance sighed. “Right, that’s… what I meant.” he began to walk back out of the lion, leaving Keith standing confused behind him. 

 

“Lance, wait.” Keith called out to him, making him turn around. “Is there something going on between you and the team?” he asked, getting straight to the point. 

 

Lance avoided Keith’s gaze as he responded: “No? Everything’s fine.”

 

Keith’s frown deepened. He could tell Lance was lying to him, but he couldn’t figure out why. He walked down towards Lance again. “I can tell something is going on. Why can’t you-” he started but was cut off by Shiro calling out to them from the mouth of the black lion.

 

“Come on guys, everyone is ready to go. Let’s head out!”

 

Keith turned to find Lance already walking back into the red lion. “Lance, I’m here if you want to talk.” he sung out into the cockpit. Not getting a reply, he sighed and walked out of red and over to the black lion where Shiro, Krolia and his wolf were waiting.

 

“Everything alright?” Shiro asked as Keith walked past him.

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Keith replied, ignoring Shiro’s concerned tone of voice and moved to sit in his seat. “Is everyone ready?” Keith called over the coms.

 

A chorus of “yeah’s” filtered back through his com in reply.

 

“Alright, let’s go then.” he ordered, flying the black lion up into the sky followed by red, green, yellow and blue.   

  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  


“Paladins, I need to take a break.” Allura’s tired voice called out through the lion’s comms. “We’ve been going non stop for about a quintant and a half now.”

 

“I’m really tired too, guys.” Hunk added with a yawn. “We should set down for a few vargas.”

 

“Alright.” Keith replied, covering a yawn with his hand. “Pidge, is there a safe place nearby we can land?” he asked, his own eyes burning slightly from being so focused for so long.

 

Pidge was silent for a moment while she scanned through her database. “There looks like there’s a planet nearby we could go check out.” she replied in a bit of a monotone voice. 

 

“Send the coordinates, we’ll head over and have a look.” Keith instructed, yawning briefly after.

 

The lions took off in the direct Pidge’s coordinates led them. It only took them a few doboshes before a dark purple planet came into view. 

 

The speakers of the comms crackled as Pidge’s voice filtered through. “It looks like the atmosphere is safe for us to breathe in and my radars aren’t picking up any dangerous species, so we should be safe here.” 

 

“Let’s head down, then.” Keith replied, leading the way down to the planet.

 

Once everyone had landed, Coran and Hunk began to set up a fire pit to begin cooking. Krolia, Shiro and Romelle went to find firewood and food, Pidge began maintenance on the lions, and Lance helped Allura bring out the bedding to camp. 

 

Keith looked around the planet, scouting for any danger. The ground was a rich purple colour covered in what looked like red grass, and the sky was a pinky lilac, littered with unfamiliar stars. They had landed in a clearing of shrubbery, and its dark burgundy leaves rustled in the breeze as he scanned out across the tops of them. He could see clearly in all directions; the mountains to the far right, the wooded area to the left where Shiro, Romelle and Krolia had gone and what looked like a large lake in front of them. If anything came up on them, they’d have plenty of time to see it before it attacked. That made Keith feel a little more at ease in the unfamiliar surroundings.

 

He breathed in a sigh of relief, and looked back over at the group. Lance was talking comfortably with Allura, and they seemed to be laughing about something, but Keith could see that Lance’s smile wasn’t as bright as it usually was. Frowning, he stopped and thought about that for a moment. He wanted to find out what was going on, but Lance didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he couldn’t go and ask him directly again… His gaze fell to Hunk and Coran who were still working on the fire pit. Hunk was Lance’s best friend, he must know what’s going on. Nodding to himself, he made his way over to the two men and knelt down next to them. “Hey, do you guys need a hand?” he asked, turning his body slightly so he could still keep an eye on Lance.

 

“Sure. Coran was about to go collect some more rocks, so you can help me put these in place in the meantime.” Hunk replied, passing some rocks over to Keith.  

 

Coran stood up with a bit of a Coran-like flourish. “Be back in a jiffy!” he said as he walked off to find more rocks. 

 

“Hey, Hunk?” Keith began, as he moved some rocks into position. “Do you know what’s up with Lance?” he asked, trying not to sound to suspicious.

 

Hunk raised an eyebrow at him, seeming confused. “What do you mean?”

 

“He seems more distant than when I left, more quiet... He doesn’t get involved with discussions or make stupid jokes anymore.” Keith explained.

 

Hunk hummed and looked over to where Lance and Allura were. “I don’t think he’s acting weird or anything.” he replied. “I mean he’s grown up a lot and takes things more seriously, but we all have.” He looked back down to continue building the fire pit. “We haven’t really had a lot of time to talk recently, with everything that happened… Pidge and I have been busy with learning the ins and outs of galra tech. He might just be homesick.” 

 

Keith pursed his lips and frowned. It felt like it was more than that, though. He knew something else was going on, but if Hunk didn’t know, then who else would?

 

With a soft sigh, he continued to help Hunk. He couldn’t just leave him to finish the task just because he didn’t have the answers he was looking for. He would just have to talk to Lance again later, and see if he could get something out of him. Even a hint would make Keith feel a little better, or at least give him an idea of what was up with Lance. For now, he’d just have to keep an eye on him.

 

Looking up, he saw Allura and Lance running around having a mini pillow fight around their camp site. Keith smiled slightly at the sight, he was glad Lance and the princess were having fun for once. But, he could see the adoration in Lance’s eyes whenever he met Allura’s gaze. It made his chest fold in on itself and his heart ache more than was probably healthy, but he ignored it as Coran came back with more rocks to finish the pit.

  
  
  


Lance laughed as Allura hit him over the head with a pillow, disorientating him for a moment and causing him to lose track of his feet and tumble to the ground. He twisted around to sit properly, wheezing a bit from laughing too hard, and staring out at the lake they had run to. 

 

“Oh… I’m sorry Lance, I didn’t mean to make you fall over.” Allura said, kneeling down beside him, giggling.

 

Lance smiled brightly at her, breathing deeply to catch his breath. “It’s all good. I’m fine. That was actually really fun.” he admitted cheerfully.

 

Allura hummed in agreement, sitting down properly next to him. “Yes, it was.” she agreed with a wide smile. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to not worry about anything.” She was quiet for a few long moments, simply looking out over the lake just like Lance was. “It’s quite beautiful out here.” she remarked quietly.

 

Lance stayed quiet for awhile, just admiring the view before he turned to look at Allura. He noticed that she was looking out blankly at the water. “Allura, are you alright?” he asked softly.

 

Allura jerked out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice and turned to him wide eyed, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Oh, yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I just got caught up in my thoughts.” she replied hastily, giving him a watery smile to try and reassure him. 

 

Lance took her hand and rubbed it gently with his thumb. “You don’t have to keep things hidden from me, princess. You can talk to me.” 

 

Allura nodded and looked out over the lake again, seeming to take comfort from avoiding his gaze. “I honestly don’t know where to start.” she whispered out. 

 

Lance squeezed her hand gently. “That’s ok. Just take your time.” he replied, looking out at the lake as well. It seemed like she needed a bit of space to say whatever she had on her mind, and the least he could do was give her that.

 

It took Allura a few minutes before she spoke up again. “I don’t think I should be telling you this. It’s not fair for you.” she whispered mournfully, closing her eyes as the tears rolled down her cheeks. 

 

Lance frowned and looked over at her, shocked to see the tear tracks there. “What are you talking about?” he asked, confused.

 

Allura looked up at him, guiltily. “The mice told me what you said to them, about your feelings for me.” she told him.

 

Lance let go of her hand quickly, his face turning bright red in embarrassment as he sat up and waved his hands dismissively. “What! That-- Pfft, no, I mean... I can--” he stumbled over his words, trying to explain himself.

 

Allura took his hand again, interrupting whatever excuse he was going to try to give her. “I’m so sorry, Lance.” she said slowly, sincerely. “I never realised that your feelings were genuine. I thought that you were just joking around, otherwise I’d never have let it get this far.” she explained softly. 

 

Lance leaned back, letting his body go lax as he breathed out a long sigh. He knew the official rejection was just a matter of time, he should have been more prepared for it. “You don’t have to say anything, Allura.” he murmured, staring firmly out at the water to avoid her gaze. “I know you don’t have feelings for me. I’ll get over it eventually.”

 

Allura, squeezed his hand, bringing his attention back to her. “Lance, I do love you.” she assured. “You’ve become an important person in my life and I treasure the time we spend together. I’m so grateful to have met you and the other Paladins.” she explained sincerely, clasping his hand with both of hers as she looked down sadly. “I don’t want to hurt you, but… You need to know that I don’t feel that way about you. I’m really sorry.”

 

The worst part was, that she really did sound sorry. Lance couldn’t help but think she truly pitied him now, and that made him feel all the worse.

 

Lance rubbed his eyes with his free hand, wiping his tears away quickly. “I know, and a part of me will always love you too.” He smiled down at her, bringing her face back up to meet his gaze. “You’re one of my best friends and I’m happy just having you in my life. And I know you really cared for Lotor… So if you ever need to talk about him or about what happened, I’ll always be here for you.” he continued, rubbing his thumb across her cheek to remove her tears.

 

Even as she was rejecting him, he hated to see her cry.

 

Allura smiled as more tears slipped down her cheeks. She flung herself against Lance in a tight hug, her arms wrapped around his shoulders tightly. “Thank you, Lance. I was so worried I’d lose you.” she mumbled, crying into the collar of his armor.

 

Lance chuckled and returned her hug, circling his arms around her waist tightly. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” he joked, his own tears spilling from his eyes again as his broken and beaten heart ached in his chest. 

  
  
  


Keith had seen the hug and the tenderness that came between them afterwards, before he decided he couldn’t take anymore and stood up to go find Shiro and Krolia. He felt annoyed at himself for getting so emotional about it. He knew Lance had feelings for Allura, and after seeing the moment they had at the lake, he guessed Allura finally reciprocated his feelings. He needed some time to cool down before he could face either of them in a decent manner that didn’t end up with him either crying or hitting something… Or both. 

 

He stomped angrily through the forest, until he finally caught up to Shiro who seemed to be alone. 

 

“Shiro!” Keith called out, grabbing the older man's attention.

 

Shiro turned to find Keith stalking up to him. “Oh, hey Keith, what are you doing out here?” he asked, clutching a bundle of sticks in his arm. “Are you alright? You… Seem a bit flustered.” he commented, noticing Keith’s stiff shoulders and fists clenched at his sides.

 

“Yes, I’m fine.” Keith snapped out, before taking a deep breath and starting again. “I mean… No? ...I don’t know. I’m mostly angry at myself.” he explained more calmly, and crossed his arms tightly over his chest to protect himself.

 

Shiro frowned. “What happened?” he asked calmly.

 

Keith sighed dramatically, letting his arms drop to his sides, before starting to pace in front of Shiro, his arms waving about in a manner Shiro was more than used to seeing. “I’m so stupid, Shiro! I knew he liked someone else, but I still fell for him anyway.” he rambled. “I told myself that nothing would ever happen between us, and I thought that being away for so long would have made these feelings go away! But being around him again has only brought them all back, and I don’t know what to do! What am I supposed to do? Now Allura seems to  like him back, they’re happy, how am I supposed to compete with that? She’s beautiful, an alien princess, and a girl! I am none of those things, he would never look at me that way! How can I face either of them without feeling like I my stupid heart is being ripped out of my chest? How, Shiro? How?” 

 

Shiro opened his mouth to try to say something but Keith rambled on: “I should avoid him. I should avoid them both. But he’s been acting so weird lately and I want to help him, but now I don’t know if I can even talk to him!” he paused to suck in a deep breath, before remembering one major factor. His hands wound up into his hair as he continued, “Oh god, Voltron, I can’t let this get in the way of Voltron! ...I just have to suck it up and deal with it, don’t I? But I have no idea how to do that! Shiro, what do I do?!” he whirled around to face the man in question, desperately seeking an answer.

 

Shiro looked too stunned for words, trying to process everything his friend threw at him in such a short span of time. “Uhh…” he stuttered out eloquently. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Okay. First? You need to calm down.” He said slowly, as if trying not to spook a timid wild animal. He let the sticks he was carrying drop to the ground distractedly and walked up to Keith, reaching up to untangle one of his hands from its death grip on his scalp. “I assume you’re talking about Lance?” he clarified. 

 

Keith could only nod, his cheeks surely red from embarrassment. He’d never told anyone about his crush on Lance, hoping and praying that it would go away on its own in due time. But, apparently, even after two years, just the sight of Lance made him weak at the knees. “Do you disapprove?” he asked quietly, head dropping to avoid Shiro’s gaze. 

 

“What!?” Shiro exclaimed, making Keith glance up to Shiro’s face again. He had a brow raised and looked confused. “Of course not. Lance is a great guy! I noticed you two were spending more and more time together, but I didn’t realise you cared about him like that.” Shiro mused, surprised by the new discovery, but not unhappy about it. He had been happy to see them hang out without bickering so much. “But, what makes you think that Allura feels the same way?”

 

Keith bit at his lip and looked away from Shiro’s concerned gaze again. “I saw them at the lake just now. They were… Well, they were pretty close.” he explained, trying to keep his voice from cracking. He really didn’t want to cry in front of Shiro, this day was already turning out to be bad enough without crying in front of the man closest to him. 

 

Shiro hummed in response. “Hunk told me that Allura and Lotor got pretty close while you were gone.” He replied. “Lance is a pretty caring guy, so maybe he was just consoling her?” he suggested, trying to make Keith feel better. 

 

Keith smiled, he hadn’t known about that, and it gave him hope. “Thanks Shiro.” he said sincerely, giving him a hug. 

 

Shiro ruffled Keith’s hair as they pulled apart. “No problem, I’m glad you opened up to me. Just give it some time.” he said, turning back to pick up the sticks he had dropped earlier. 

 

Keith came up to help him carry the pile. “Where are Krolia and Romelle?” he asked, looking around. 

 

“They went off to hunt some supper. I told them I’d meet them back at the camp. Wanna head back?” Shiro asked, turning to Keith.

 

Keith smiled. “Sure.” he replied, walking back to camp with Shiro.

 

When they returned, they saw Krolia and Romelle already at the campsite talking to Hunk and Coran. Keith and Shiro walked up to them, dropping the sticks by the fire pit.

 

“Sorry to keep you guys. Is this everything we need?” Shiro asked.

 

“Looks like it.” Hunk replied. “I’ll start preparing the food while Coran starts the fire. We should have everything done soon.” he explained, grabbing some fruit Romelle had found and chopping it into pieces.

 

“Do you need any help?” Keith asked, crouching down to Hunk’s level, hoping to keep busy so he could keep his mind off of a certain person. 

 

Hunk paused for a moment and looked around at the group around them; Romelle was helping Coran with the fire, and Krolia had started to skin some of the small creatures she had hunted. “No, looks like we are good here.” Hunk replied, and turned back to the fruit in front of him. “Thanks, though! We’ll call you guys over when it's done.”

 

Keith sighed, slightly disappointed. “Alright, thanks guys.” he replied. 

 

Shiro put his hand on Keith’s shoulder once he stood up, getting his attention. He motioned over to Lance, who was still sitting by the lake, but Allura had gone off to who knows where. “Go talk to him.” he quietly urged, pushing Keith lightly in the direction of the lake. 

 

Keith turned around and glared at him. Shiro just smiled and gave him a wink as he walked off to where Allura was setting out bedding for everyone. Keith growled under his breath quietly, he knew telling Shiro was going to be a bad idea. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned back to the lake and began walking towards Lance. 

 

“Hey.” He said quietly, not wanting to startle Lance. “Mind if I sit here?” 

 

Lance just shrugged, not removing his gaze from the lake.

 

Keith sighed, but sat down next to Lance anyway. He stayed quiet for a while, just enjoying the view. The lake was crystal clear, sparkling pink water rippling ever so slightly from the small creatures that were swimming just below the surface. “It’s really nice out here.” he remarked, mostly to himself, not expecting Lance to answer. 

 

“It reminds me of the lake we have at home.” Lance replied, his voice empty of emotion.

 

Keith glanced over at him. His face was completely blank, but his cheeks were wet from tears. Frowning, Keith looked back over to the lake. He wasn’t sure how to get Lance to open up to him, but he wanted to help in any way he could. He could feel the frustration building in his chest again, but took a deep breath to remain calm. The last thing he needed now was to snap at Lance. 

 

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked cautiously. He knew the last time he asked directly, Lance had shut down, but he didn’t know how to do the small talk, so he’d just do the best with what he knew. 

 

Lance huffed, his eyebrows falling into a frown. “You wouldn't understand.” he replied bluntly.

 

Keith’s eyebrows raised at the bitterness of Lance’s voice, but chose to ignore it, grateful Lance was at least talking to him. “Try me.” he challenged.

 

Lance growled in frustration and Keith's persistence. “How could you possibly understand what it feels like? To see the person you care about everyday and know that they don’t feel the same about you?” he snapped angrily, clenching his fists into the dirt beside him. “My chest hurts everytime I see them. I get so excited and happy to see them everyday, but then I remember that they don’t feel the same way… It's a consistent back and forth between being happy and sad and it just sucks.” he finished bitterly, glaring at the lake as if it had personally murdered his mother, or something. 

 

Keith was silent, shocked at Lance’s outburst. After a moment, once the irony of this sunk in, he began to laugh out loud. Lance felt the exact way about Allura that he himself was feeling about Lance. And Lance was now ranting to him about it the same way he had just done to Shiro literally moments ago. 

 

If there was any good in this, it meant that Shiro was right; Allura didn’t reciprocate Lance’s feelings.

 

Lance turned to glare heatedly at Keith. “I’m glad you think my pain is funny.” he spat out, and stood up to leave. Keith quickly reached out to grip his wrist, stopping him from leaving. “Let go, you jerk.” Lance cried out, trying to free himself from Keith’s grasp.

 

“I’m sorry.” Keith laughed out, trying to calm himself down while keeping an insistent grip on Lance’s wrist so he couldn’t escape before he could explain himself. “I didn’t mean to laugh.” he assured, and bit at his lip to keep the smile from his face. “It’s just funny because I know exactly how you feel.” he explained, letting go of Lance’s wrist to turn back to the lake. If Lance wanted to leave now, he understood. He just needed him to know that.

 

Lance was quiet for a few moments, not moving and not saying anything, until he sat back down heavily, facing Keith with an incredulous look on his face. “ _ You _ like someone who doesn’t like you back?” he questioned, trying to clarify. 

 

Keith gave him a small sad smile and a shrug as an answer, not looking him in the eye. 

 

Lance looked back out over the lake. “Huh.” he said thoughtfully, feeling less angry and frustrated now that he understood. “I guess we have something in common then.” he mused, trying to think who Keith might have liked. 

 

“Did you still want to talk about it?” Keith asked, trying to distract Lance from asking any awkward questions.

 

Lance sighed. “Allura told me she didn’t feel the same way.” he said sadly. “Which is cool, I mean, I always knew I didn’t have a chance with her. And after seeing her and Lotor, it was pretty clear, but hearing it out loud hurt.” he explained, drawing circles in the dirt with his finger absentmindedly.

 

“I’m sorry.” Keith replied, turning to face Lance. “I’m not really sure what to say.” he said honestly, feeling guilty he couldn’t offer more to help. 

 

Lance smiled and looked up at him. “It’s okay. Talking about it actually made me feel better. Thanks, Keith.” he replied earnestly, grateful to get it off his chest.

 

Keith smiled back, noticing Lance’s smile seemed to be real and sincere this time, which made him feel happy. “We should head back.” he said, realising they’d been out here for a while. 

 

Lance’s stomach grumbled in hunger, causing him to chuckle. “Yeah, let’s go see what amazing food Hunk’s cooked up for us.” he replied, getting up. 

 

The two of them walked back to camp together in comfortable silence. 

 

The rest of the team had started to gather around the fire as Hunk and Coran handed out food to them all. 

 

Shiro noticed Lance and Keith sit next to each other at dinner and smiled knowingly at Keith, who frowned at him disapprovingly for it. Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at that. He knew he’d be talking to him about it later.

 

“This is sooo good, Hunk.” Lance moaned happily, taking another bite. 

 

“Agreed, you are very talented.” Romelle added.

 

“Aww, thanks guys! I couldn’t have done it without the food Krolia and Romelle found, and Coran helped cook, so I can’t take all the credit.” Hunk replied bashfully. 

 

“It was a great team effort.” Shiro commented, taking another bite as well. “We should plan our next move while we are all here.” he advised.

 

“Agreed, we are making good time on our journey, despite the delay.” Krolia replied from her spot beside Romelle. “Maybe we should try and do the same tomorrow?” she suggested, looking over to Shiro for approval.

 

Shiro looked over at Pidge. “Do you think the lions will be able to handle that, Pidge?” he asked.

 

Pidge hummed in thought before replying. “I think so, if they rest while we do.” she paused for a moment before continuing. “I am worried about the black, green and red lions though. They haven’t had as much time to rest with the flight to and from Wuzherf.” she mentioned.

 

“Maybe I can have a look over them before we leave tomorrow?” Hunk proposed. “If we keep monitoring them as we fly we should be able to catch any declines in their power.” he explained.

 

“Right, and I’ll keep an eye out for places to rest in case we need to make an emergency landing for a while.” Pidge added.

 

“Great! If all goes smoothly, we should be able to cut a quintant off our travel time!” Coran exclaimed excitedly. 

 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Shiro replied with a yawn. His cheeks flushed, and he lifted his hand up to cover his mouth sheepishly. “Well, I’m gonna head, you should all get some sleep too. It’s been a long couple of quintants.” 

 

Everyone nodded, getting up from the warm fire to head to the sleeping bags Allura and Shiro had set out. 

  
  


\---

 

Keith once again woke to the sound of the ocean. Sitting up, he found himself at the beach again. He glanced around, but didn’t see anyone or anything, just the dark ocean, and the moon reflected in her depths. He frowned, and glanced down at his hands, wondering why he was here again. What was so important about this beach? This ocean? Why did he keep returning to this spot, directly across from the moon, with Lance--

 

As soon as the thought of Lance entered his mind, the same powerful energy as before rocketed through his entire body. Keith thought that he’d be used to that feeling by now, but it still shook him to the core. It felt like every single cell in his body was reacting to this energy, making him feel… Whole, complete, for just a split second. It was completely overwhelming, in both a good and a bad way. He wasn’t really sure how to handle that. Taking a moment to recover, he stood up straight and looked around again. As expected, like the last few times he’d been to this beach, he saw some figures materialize suddenly a few feet away. Walking up to them, he noticed a bunch of faceless figures laughing and having fun, and in the centre stood Allura and Lotor smiling lovingly at each other.

 

He looked around again to see if he recognized anybody, until his eyes settled on Lance off to the side, looking at the group of people sadly. Like last time, there was still a large shadow covering most of his body, maybe even more of it this time. “What’s going on?” Keith asked, curiously once he got to Lance’s side.

 

Lance just continued to stare out blankly at the group. “I wasn’t good enough for them.” he stated emotionlessly.

 

Keith frowned in confusion, looking back over the group of people to try and figure out what Lance meant. He didn’t recognise anyone except Allura and Lotor. Scanning around, he noticed that everyone was paired off, sometimes both faces were visible, sometimes only one. Who were these people? They were all circled around Lotor and Allura, even though each pair seemed completely enamoured in their partner and not in their surroundings. Were the people with faces people that Lance had liked… But was rejected by?

 

“Uh,” Keith started, not really knowing what to say. “What do you mean you weren’t good enough?” he questioned.

 

“I have nothing to offer them.” he replied, repeating what he had said about the team in the last dream in the same sad voice that made Keith’s chest tighten. 

 

Keith’s frown deepened as he turned to face Lance. “What are you talking about?” he yelled, snapping Lance out of his trace, his eyes wide in shock. “You are an amazing person with so much to offer!” 

 

Lance just stood there staring at him, like he didn’t believe what Keith was saying to him, but the shadow that encased him was starting to thin out. Just as Keith started to think he was getting somewhere with this dream Lance, he felt the telltale tug of the dream ending. 

 

“Lance!” he called out as the scene began to fade around him. He wanted to say more, reassure him that he is good enough, would always be good and amazing and perfect, but there wasn’t enough time. The last thing he saw was Lance’s eyes piercing is own, the blue depths filled with such emotion he hadn’t seen from the man in a long time. 

 

Gasping for breath, Keith sat upright quickly, looking around to see where he was. When his vision cleared, he saw everyone was still sleeping soundly around him. The only one awake other than himself was his wolf by his side, who was looking up at him with a concerned gaze. Keith took a deep breath to calm himself, patting his wolf’s head. “I’m okay, boy.” he whispered, and reached down to scratch between his shoulder blades, just like he knew he liked. “It was just a dream.”

 

Not really feeling tired anymore, Keith decided to get up and go for a walk with his wolf. They crept out of camp as quietly as they could, to not wake the others, before making for the lake.

 

Even though the ground was purple and the water was pink, it reminded him vividly of the dreams he’d been having lately. What did it all mean? He couldn’t hope to figure that all out now. Maybe it was just his worry for Lance manifested into dreams?

 

He hoped Lance would open up to him soon, then, so he could go back to the normal dreamless sleeps he was used to.

 

They walked for about half a varga before stopping by another smaller lake on the other side of the clearing. Keith could still see the campsite, so he wasn’t worried that the team would think he’d gotten lost or anything. 

 

He wondered about the recurring dreams as he threw sticks for his wolf to chase and bring back- not all of which were successful, but his wolf was slowly learning. He didn’t understand why he was suddenly having dreams about Lance, but they seemed to be important. Each time he discovered something new, something to help him understand Lance’s feelings better. The shadow around dream Lance also seemed to be linked to his feelings. Now he just needed to figure out the best way to help him by using this information. 

 

Keith breathed out a long sigh as he threw the stick again. He really wasn’t good at emotional things, but if he could help Lance in any way, then he was going to try his best.

 

His wolf came up to him and barked, trying to get Keith’s attention. Keith looked down and saw he’d brought the stick back successfully. Keith knelt down and hugged his wolf around his neck with a wide smile. “You’re such a good boy, good job!” he cooed, laughing as he got a big wet lick across his cheek.    

 

His wolf stopped wagging his tail suddenly and tilted his head as if looking at something behind Keith.

 

Keith pulled back to turn around, and saw Lance leaning against a tree nearby. “Oh, hey.” he called, standing up to greet him.

 

Lance smiled slightly, but kept an eye on the wolf wearily, not moving any closer or further away. “Uh, the guys are almost ready to go.” he replied.

 

Keith noticed Lance’s uneasiness and smiled. He reached down to pat the wolf’s neck, still looking at Lance. “It’s okay, y’know, he won’t hurt you.” he assured.

 

Lance looked up and met Keith’s gaze. “May I?” he gestured toward the wolf, the back of his hand slightly extended.

 

“Sure.” Keith nodded, moving to the side to let the animal have some space to decide what he thinks of Lance.

 

Lance took a slow step forward and crouched down to be closer to eye level with the wolf. “Here, boy.” he called, and the wolf immediately trotted up to sniff his hand. After a moment the wolf slowly looked up at him before disappearing.

 

Lance stood up quickly in shock. “What the?!” he exclaimed, looking around. “Where did he -ahh!” he jumped backwards as the wolf re-appeared suddenly right in front of him. His feet got tangled over one of the many branches on the ground, and he fell down with a grunt, to be immediately assaulted by the wolf’s eager tongue.

 

Lance laughed as a couple of soft licks were placed on the side of his cheek, and stroked the soft fur around his neck a few times soothingly. “Awh, I guess Keith really didn’t teach you to bite my head off.” he said quietly, mostly to himself.

 

“What?” Keith asked, confused.

 

“Nothing, nothing.” Lance said as he continued to pet his new friend. “So does he have a name?”

 

Keith’s eyes widened slightly before he looked away slightly as he, disjointedly, considered his words. “Well. I- I mean yeah. Of course he has a name.”

 

“Yeah.” Lance drawed out, with a tone of confusion. “And?”

 

Sucking in a subtle breath Keith looked down at his pet. “And,” he paused, looked away and closed his eyes. “HisnameisBlue” he gritted inaudibly between his teeth.

 

Lance drew his brows together, “Huh?”

 

“HisnameisBlue” He said a bit hastier.

 

“Keith,” Lance huffed, “I can’t understand—”

 

“I said his name’s Blue!” Keith shouted. He immediately hunched in on himself a bit, embarrassed for his outburst. It was something he was a little embarrassed about, and even after spending two years trying to mature and get a better grasp on his emotions, he still had a tendency to replace some emotions with anger.

 

Blue and Lance both stared up at Keith after his outburst.

 

“Blue.” Lance said flatly and Keith closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “...As in the blue lion.”

 

Keith sighed, giving into the awkwardness of the situation. “Yes. Listen, Lance—”

 

“As in Allura’s blue lion!”

 

“Wait,” Keith’s emotions halted, and he gaped openly at the stupid, idiot, beautiful boy across from him. “What…?”

 

Standing up, Lance furrowed his brows and pursed his lips at Keith. “You named your pet ‘Blue’,” he air quoted, “after Allura’s blue lion!”

 

“What!?” Keith squawked, his expression was as flustered as ever, was Lance really serious right now?

 

“You like her!”

 

“No, I—!”

 

“I knew it!” Lance shrieked, before he started counting off with his fingers; “First, you get jealous when I flirt with her, then you and her take off in pod together, and now this?! She’s the person you have feelings for!”

 

“Lance!”

 

“Ohhhhh no. Nononono, you can’t pull this one over on me Keith. I can’t  _ believe _ this!” Lance threw his hands over his face before letting out a groan of frustration. “Well listen, Allura is really upset about Lotor so she’s not gonna—”

 

“Lance!” He shouted, before he took a visibly deep breath before exhaling to calm his head, eyes squeezed closed as he massaged his forehead. “Are you even listening to yourself right now?”

 

Lance angrily crossed his arms, similar to his counterpart, but said nothing. Keith sighed before leaning down to pick up the stick he and Blue had been playing with. Blue walked casually over to Keith’s side as the latter turned to leave. But, before he did, he stopped mid step.

 

“You know, Lance…” Keith called back over his shoulder with a bit of a smirk, “have you ever considered that Allura wasn’t the only paladin of the blue lion?” With that, he and Blue carried on out of the clearing, back towards the camp and the lions.

 

About a minute after Keith and Blue had left, Keith’s words finally clicked together in Lance’s mind. His eyes widened and a crimson blush covered his face. “...What!?! Keith!” he shrieked, springing into action to rush after them. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHH I just have so many feels about this chapter XD
> 
> Keith has finally admitted his feelings out loud and he's starting to understand the dreams and Lance finally has some closure with Allura so the good old klance is just gonna keep building from here!!!
> 
> Credit to Hayden (@soricute) for the last scene with Lance, Keith and Blue, it fit perfectly into my story and I'm so grateful that he let me use his idea! 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! Please let me know what you think! I love hearing your feedback!
> 
> You can come yell at me on tumblr @forsakenangel88 
> 
> Until next time <3


	5. Day 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team run into some trouble with the lions. Lance feels conflicted and a mission doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this chapter got away from me haha. The next couple will probably be just as long due to wanting to get this fic done before season 7 so expect updates asap!
> 
> I wanna thank [@winter-and-little-brunettes](http://winter-and-little-brunettes.tumblr.com/) again for being my amazing beta and getting these edits done asap for you guys!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Keith had made it back to the lions before Lance had caught up to him, so he wasn’t able to ask why he had named his wolf after him. Everyone was already in their lions, ready to start the next part of their journey. They were hoping to gain another day’s worth of travel by flying for a quintant straight, so Lance walked over to Red and climbed in. He’d have to talk to Keith later. 

 

“Everyone ready?” Keith asked over the lions’ comms as the black lion powered up.

 

Everyone replied “yeah,” before the five lions took off once again. 

  
  


\----

  
  


A few vargas into their journey, Hunk piped up with a cautious question: “Does anyone else think it’s strange we haven't run into any galra fleets yet?”

 

“It is a little peculiar.” Allura commented lowly.

 

“Maybe they are re-organising themselves now that their Emperor is gone?” Lance replied. He couldn’t help but notice that his comm was sounding a bit faint. He pressed a few buttons to try and fix the problem, still listening to his team discuss the possibilities.

 

“I’m sure Sendak is taking full advantage of the mess.” Keith added dryly. “He’ll be rallying as many galra forces as he can while there isn't anyone in power.”

 

“He won’t come directly for us.” Pidge pointed out. “He’ll go straight for Earth because he knows -- where we’re -- our families --”  

 

Static filtered through the comms and Lance couldn’t hear what Pidge said clearly. Lance frowned, trying to listen through the static to pick up on his teammates’ voices. “Uh, guys?” He called out, but after a few long moments of static, he got no response. His frown deepened, and he tried pressing a few more buttons, trying to get a better connection. Suddenly, an alarm sounded in his cockpit, and an icon popped up on the screen, indicating that the red lion’s power was depleted. “Can you guys hear me?” he called out again, but still, nothing but static. 

 

Suddenly, all power shut off as the red lion stopped moving on its own, simply floating forwards in space from the previous momentum. “Oh no, no, no!” Lance muttered to himself, trying frantically to get his lion back up and running. But no matter what button he pressed, or combination of buttons, there was no response. When he finally looked up again, he saw that the others hadn’t realised he’d fallen behind. 

 

He could feel the awful tightness of panic rising to his chest, and his heart started beating harshly in his ears. He couldn't reach the others without the comms. What would happen if they didn't realise soon? He’d be stuck here, lost in space with limited food, water and air. He wasn’t an engineer or a computer person, so he had no idea what to do to get his lion started again. 

 

He was useless.

 

He knew that as a true fact as the familiar emptiness filled his head, making his body feel hollow and numb. He stared down at his hands emotionlessly. Would his team even care that he was left behind? They’d worry about the lion of course, since red was the fastest, and the right arm of Voltron, but him? He didn't have any special skill set. He could easily be replaced. It wasn’t like any of them had noticed that he had been distancing himself recently.

 

They were probably happier without him around. 

 

But Keith liked hanging around him though, right?

 

At the thought of Keith, Lance’s cheeks flushed red, remembering the last conversation they’d had. Lance couldn’t help but wonder why Keith named his wolf ‘Blue’ after his old lion. The logical answer was that Keith liked him, but that just wasn't possible. Lance frowned, and shook his head at his own stupid thoughts. No, that just wasn’t possible.

 

Keith was amazing and talented and so smart. There was no way he would like someone as lame as Lance… And even if he did, Lance was sure that he’d quickly see how flawed and useless he was, and get bored and move on. He moved his hand to cover his chest, and even through the breastplate, he could feel his heart pounding underneath.

 

This wasn’t the first time Keith had made him feel like this, though. And it probably wouldn’t be the last. 

 

Thinking back, Lance remembered the first time he had met Keith. It was at the Garrison, they had been in the same class, flying the simulators. And Keith had been a natural. His flying skills had amazed Lance as he passed every single drill with no effort, not to mention he was friends with Shiro, the man he considered his hero. He was so envious. He’d tried befriending Keith one day after class, but Keith had paid no notice to him, walking straight by. That was the day Lance had started the rivalry with Keith. He was determined to show him that he was just as good as he was, and hoped that Shiro would notice him as well. 

 

He’d been happy when Keith left the Garrison, since he was finally able to get the fighter pilot position he had worked so hard for, but it still felt like he wasn’t good enough. Iverson had begun to compare him to Keith, since he was still recognised as the best pilot in their class. It had made him feel bitter and resentful, so when they’d met up again that night Shiro crashed to Earth and he found out Keith hadn’t remembered him, he felt angry and decided to continue that rivalry. 

 

Lance chuckled softly to himself and shook his head, before resting it back against his chair. He was such a child back then… Picking fights with Keith, and challenging him just to get a reaction out of him, any form of attention from him, really. How many times had he put the mission in jeopardy because he was too busy trying to show off? Sighing, he smiled sadly to himself. Keith had always reacted, though, and even when they were arguing, they still made a really great team. 

 

It wasn’t until Shiro had disappeared, that Lance had seen a more vulnerable side to Keith. Without Shiro, Keith seemed to be more impulsive and reckless, if that was even possible, snapping at the others and even at potential coalition members. But, when Red had accepted Lance as the new red paladin, it made him feel like he had a purpose again, helping support Keith to become the new leader. It made him so incredibly happy, once he got over the fact that he was now piloting a lion he never thought he would. He quickly noticed that Keith was actually a pretty cool guy, and that he liked hanging out with him. They were an amazing team, looking out for each other, reassuring each other and just generally supporting each other…

 

It had been nice. Keith seemed to actually listen to his ideas and often looked to him for advice or clarification on things. Lance had felt useful for once, but then Keith left with the Blade of Marmora, and it all fell apart. 

 

Without Keith, Lance realised just how much he came to depend on Keith’s presence in the team. He no longer had someone to banter with, someone who needed his support, or even just to go to when the silence got to be too much. Shiro was back (or, a clone of Shiro at least), and Shiro didn’t need help leading the team, so he was back to just being useless Lance. Pidge and Hunk had started spending more time together, Shiro and Coran often did their own things… He and Allura had started to become closer, but it just wasn’t the same without Keith there. He had genuinely missed Keith.

 

His breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened, staring out the window of the cockpit in shock. No, there was no way. He gripped at the sides of his chair so hard his knuckles turned white.

 

He couldn’t possibly have a crush on Keith… Right?

 

Keith was impulsive, grouchy, hot headed, and always managed to push Lance’s buttons, and he had that stupid mullet… But he could also be calm and collected, kind and caring. He was passionate about the things he believed in, and would fight for those he cared about. He was determined, selfless and self-sacrificing, an amazing pilot and great with a sword. Lance could truly admit that his hair wasn’t that bad, that it kind of suited him… Well, it really suited him. He is an attractive looking guy--

 

“Ugh!” Lance growled aloud in frustration, and grabbed his head between his hands, his fingertips digging into his scalp. No! He couldn’t think about that anymore, Keith would never ever be interested in him that way. He let his body fall forwards, elbows resting on his thighs, and squeezed his eyes closed to try to gather his thoughts. There was no point in wasting time, thinking about his feelings and things that would never happen.

 

But, ‘never’ was presumptuous. Especially because of their last conversation, and how Keith confessed the meaning behind his wolf’s name… A small smile graced his lips. No matter what, it still made him feel good that Blue was named after him, and not Allura.

 

His train of thought was interrupted when his lion suddenly jolted violently, nearly sending him sprawling from his seat, a loud bang echoing through the cockpit. Looking up, he felt a sense of relief run through him as he saw the yellow, green and blue lions hovering in front of red. They seemed to be looking up at something, but he couldn't see anything or hear if they were saying anything to him since his comms were still out. The three lions moved out of the way just as red suddenly started to move.

 

Startled by the sudden movement, he realised distantly that red must’ve been being carried by black, the others must have been talking to Keith earlier. Sighing, he cradled his head in his hands again, feeling embarrassed about his failure. Of course it had to be his lion that lost power, he was so pathetic. Sitting back, he watched as the stars flew by, powerless to do anything, just waiting for whatever the others had planned to get his lion started again.

 

He sat there, in the dark cockpit for vargas before he finally saw a planet come into view.

 

The planet was pale blue, similar to Earth, but the clouds were a bright pastel orange instead of white. As the lions flew closer, he could see that the planet was mostly water with very few land masses, each of which were small, so he wasn’t sure where they would find room to land all the lions. The four lions stopped in front of the planet for a few dobashes, and Lance could only assume the team were discussing what to do with the problem… But he still couldn’t hear anything, so he sat there quietly and waited. 

 

Soon enough the team was on the move again. The black lion carried red down into the atmosphere and across the watery surface. Lance watched in amazement as the water glistened under the light; he had never seen water so crystal clear before. Looking down, he could see both black and red reflected on the water, and everything that was swimming below the surface.

 

They came up to a small group of islands, floating in the middle of the ocean. One land mass of pure white sand looked like it was big enough to fit at least two of the lions, while the others surrounding it looked large enough to house the others individually. 

 

Red came face to face with the sandy ground smoothly, and Lance stood to watch as Keith landed the black lion a little bit away just as gracefully. He sidestepped from in front of his pilot’s chair to reach up and push the emergency door button, then stood up on his seat to push himself up and out of the red lion. He took his time jumping down from red’s head down to the sand, keeping an eye on the black lion all the while.

 

Keith was the first to come rushing out of black, followed closely by Shiro and Krolia. “Lance!” He called out, running over to him. “Are you alright?”

 

Lance offered them a small smile. “Yeah.” he assured, and gestured back to red. “Red just lost power. I tried calling out to you guys, but the signal mustn't have been strong enough.”

 

Keith frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest, looking over to where the green and yellow lions were. “I guess using that cannon drained a fair bit of power.” he murmured, simply watching as the rest of the group came rushing over to them. “I thought Pidge said they’d be able to monitor the lions power so we could avoid this?” he said a little louder, narrowing his eyes a bit at the girl in question.

 

Shiro put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, pulling his attention from the others. “We’ll ask her when she gets here. I’m sure there’s a good explanation.” he said, trying to calm Keith down before he got too worked up.

 

Keith sighed and let his arms drop to his sides. “Alright.” he agreed hesitantly. After a moment of waiting, he slouched forwards, before moving to lean up against one of the red lion’s front paws while they waited.

 

Lance looked down at his feet, avoiding everyone's concerned looks. He couldn’t help but feel guilty that he had inadvertently caused another delay in their journey.

 

The others joined up with them a short time later, having had to walk across the sand bars between the islands to get to the red and black lions.

 

Pidge ran up to Lance as soon as she was close enough. “Oh my gosh, are you alright?” she cried out, stopping just in front of him. 

 

Lance smiled down at her, and nodded. “Yeah, I’m alright. Red just lost power is all.” he explained again.

 

Pidge frowned and tapped on her gauntlet, bringing up a screen with each of the lions’ diagnostics. “That’s strange.” she mumbled, sitting down on the sand in front of the red lion. “We didn’t even get any warning?” She muttered, mostly to herself as she tapped away on the screen, trying to figure out the issue.

 

Hunk bounded up to Lance and immediately wrapped his arms around him in a bone-crushing hug. “Dude, I was so scared!” he exclaimed, and gave Lance another squeeze. “When we looked around and saw you weren’t there I thought something had gotten you. I’m so glad you’re alright!” He cried into Lance’s shoulder. After one final squeeze, he finally let Lance go to let his chest do the whole breathing thing again.

 

“Hunk and I will run some more tests,” Pidge interjected, “because our sensors didn’t even indicate that the red lions power was so low when we left.” 

 

Hunk nodded, walked behind Pidge and bent down to look at her gauntlet screen over her shoulder.

 

“We should ensure that all the lions have enough power before taking off again.” Allura advised as she came to Lance’s side. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, giving him a one-armed hug, which Lance appreciated.

 

Lance leaned into her for a moment, until she pulled her arm back. “I didn’t get much warning, the comms sounded pretty faint as you guys were talking and then the next minute an alarm is blaring, and then nothing.” he explained with a one-shoulder shrug.

 

“Has anyone else had any issues?” Shiro queried, looking around at the other paladins.

 

“I haven’t noticed anything.” Keith replied, crossing his arms again.

 

“Yellow seems to be doing alright.” Hunk added.

 

“Blue has been fine.” Allura commented.

 

“Green was fine as well.” Pidge replied. “Red mustn’t have been able to recharge the power it lost after using the cannon.” she thought out loud.

 

Keith stood up on his own two feet again, and came back to the group to stand behind Pidge and Hunk, looking down at the screen. “Shouldn’t you have noticed that before we left the last planet?” he asked, his voice laced with annoyance.

 

Pidge looked up at him and frowned at his accusing tone. “The reports I had indicated that it had enough power.” She snapped back. “That’s why Hunk and I are doing more diagnostics to find out what went wrong, and why it didn’t alert us, or even Lance.”

 

Hunk glanced between Pidge and Keith, feeling the tension building up. “Uh… This is going to take a while, so maybe you guys could go chill somewhere while we work?” he suggested, trying to diffuse the situation. 

 

“Fine.” Keith huffed before striding off on his own towards the far side of the beach. 

 

The others watched silently as he left, waiting until he was out of earshot to talk.

 

“What’s his problem?” Pidge asked, irritated as she returned back to the screen.

 

“I’m sure he’s just tired.” Shiro offered. “He’ll be fine after he has some time to calm down.” 

 

Lance sighed and glanced over to where Keith had disappeared. The last thing he wanted was everyone arguing because of him. He turned back to Pidge, trying to come up with an idea to help Keith cool off. “You said we are gonna be here awhile, right?” he clarified.

 

“Yeah.” She replied, monotoned, too busy with her data.

 

Lance looked up at Hunk for clarification.

 

Hunk smiled sheepishly. “We need to run a full diagnostics on red, and then on the rest of the lions and compare the data, so it’s gonna be a few vargas at least.” he explained. 

 

Lance smiled. “Great! So, we can just go relax until then?” he asked slowly, turning to Shiro to make sure it was okay with him. 

 

Shiro shrugged. “I guess so, there’s not much else we can do.” he replied casually.

 

Lance’s smile grew into a wide grin before he whirled around and rushed back towards red’s head again. He hopped up to the emergency hatch with ease, and swiftly disappeared back into the cockpit. He emerged a few moments later with a pair of blue boardshorts in his hand and a massive grin on his face. “Shiro, help me find Keith’s swim shorts!” he called, jumping down from red quickly, and rushing over to the black lion.

 

Shiro followed after him with a raised eyebrow. “Why do you want his swim shorts?” he asked, following Lance into the black lion.

 

As soon as Lance found where Keith’s clothes were, he started rifling through everything to find what he was looking for. “What better way to cool down than with swimming!” he exclaimed, moving to the side so Shiro could help look through the bag. “Have you seen the water here? We’d be crazy to not take this opportunity.”

 

Shiro smiled to himself as he continued his search. “You and Keith have been spending a lot of time together lately.” he commented, trying not to sound suspicious. 

 

Lance froze for a moment, his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.  “I… uh… I mean, I guess?” he replied slowly, trying to keep his voice steady.

 

“I think it’s great.” Shiro replied calmly, pulling out the familiar red and white board shorts and turning to hand them to Lance.

 

Lance looked up at him shocked, not saying anything as he took the item of clothing, a blush covering his cheeks. 

 

“I heard what you did for him while I was… away.” Shiro said, smiling warmly. “I really appreciate you standing by him. I know it was unfair of me to put that pressure on him to be the leader. I mean, I wasn’t exactly planning on disappearing… but having you there really helped him.” Shiro explained, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “He never really had any friends before Voltron, and I know he cares a lot about you, so I’m glad to see the feeling is mutual.”

 

Lance smiled brightly at the compliment. “Keith is a pretty cool guy once you get past his crazy high walls. I’m glad that I was able to meet him again through Voltron and become his friend.” he replied earnestly. 

 

“Thank you, Lance.” Shiro said sincerely, giving his shoulder a squeeze before letting go. “You better go find him.” he said, stepping out of the way.

 

Lance nodded happily. “Right! See you later!” he called, running out of the black lion to go find Keith.

 

Shiro shook his head and chuckled, walking out to go find the others.

  
  


\---

  
  


Lance found Keith sitting on the other side of the island near a small alcove, staring out at the ocean with a frown on his face. He slowed to a stop a few meters away from Keith, finding himself lost in the sight. He hadn’t had a chance to really focus on Keith since he’d been back, looking older with a slightly larger build. His jaw was more defined, his eyes slightly narrower. The mullet he had hated so much had grown out slightly, long enough to brush against his cheeks with every soft-blowing breeze… Lance shook his head, tearing his gaze from Keith. He couldn’t afford to get too distracted and waste time they could spend swimming.

 

Keith didn’t even seem to register Lance’s presence, which was unusual for him. He was usually super aware of his surroundings at all times. Lance smirked to himself, realizing this was a perfect and unique opportunity to sneak attack Keith. He stalked up behind him slowly, scarcely even breathing until he was standing right behind him. As soon as he was sure Keith still had no idea he was there, Lance wacked Keith over the head with his shorts, earning himself with a fierce glare and a growl from the other.

 

Lance just chuckled heartily at Keith’s pouty face. “That’s what you get for not paying attention.” he said smugly, sitting down on the rock next to Keith. 

 

Keith’s pout deepened. “What are you doing over here?” he asked, trying to smooth his hair back into a semblance of decency.

 

Lance smiled at him, holding up the two pairs of boardshorts. “I thought we could go swimming.” he said, throwing Keith’s pair into his lap. He walked over to the edge of the rocky shore to stare at the water with a wistful smile. “The water looks so beautiful, and Hunk said we have a few vargas before we can leave, so….” he turned around to face Keith with a big grin on his face. “Come swimming with me!” he yelled, raising his hands in the air above his head in excitement. 

 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed under his breath. He was happy to see Lance in a good mood, but he really wasn’t in a socialising mood right now. “I don’t really feel like swimming, Lance.” he stated firmly, but still offered him a small apologetic smile. 

 

“Oh, come onnnn Keeeith.” he drawled out, walking back over to him with his hands on his hips. “When was the last time you actually had some fun?” he asked, putting on the best puppy-dog face that he could manage. 

 

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s attempt to change his mind. He did have a point, though. It had been a while since they had time to relax… Even longer since they kicked back and relaxed together. Besides, the face Lance was making was difficult for Keith to say no to… Keith let his head fall forwards and sighed, before throwing his hands up in defeat. “Alright, you win.” 

 

Lance instantly squealed and bent down to grab Keith’s wrists, pulling him up into a standing position. “Yes!” he exclaimed happily. “This will be so much fun! I can’t even remember the last time I went swimming.” he rambled quickly, kicking his shoes off, almost falling over in the process. 

 

Keith chuckled at Lance’s enthusiasm, gripping his arm steadily so he wouldn’t fall over in his haste. “Maybe you should take it easy. Don’t want to hurt yourself before you get in.” he suggested with a smirk, pushing Lance back into a stable position.

 

Lance blushed, jumping out of Keith’s grip, laughing sheepishly. “Ah, right. Thanks.” he said, turning away so Keith couldn’t see how red his face was. 

 

Keith shrugged off Lance’s odd behavior, and set to work on changing out of his armor and into his boardshorts. Once he was done, he dropped his armour off inside the alcove so it would be out of the way. When he turned around, he saw Lance staring at him, with his armor gripped tightly in his hands. Keith blinked at him curiously. “What?” he asked.

 

Lance jerked out of his stance, nearly dropping his armor. “Uh... nothing.” he said quickly, dropping his gaze as he moved around Keith quickly to place his paladin armor down beside Keith’s. He didn’t look at him as he turned around, his face dusted with the remnants of a blush. “Ready?” he asked, as he rushed past Keith to jump in the water.

 

Keith raised an eyebrow as Lance ran past him, confused as to what was going on, he wandered slowly down to the shore. 

 

Lance’s head emerged from the surface of the water, a fair ways away from the first large ripple where he jumped in. He slicked his hair back against his head as water droplets slid down his face. “Come on! The water is great.” he called, splashing water at Keith, wetting the bottom half of his legs.

 

Keith smirked dangerously. “Oh, I see how it is.” he replied, before launching into the water, creating a large splash that waved over Lance’s head. He emerged moments later to see Lance spluttering and laughed. 

 

Lance glared at Keith, a playful smile on his face. “You’re gonna pay for that.” he threatened playfully, and moved his arms just under the surface of the water to push a large wave over his head.

 

Keith was prepared for the attack, and turned just in time to avoid getting hit in the face. He turned to face Lance with a smug look. “That the best you got?” he teased, getting ready to counter attack. 

 

Lance laughed, and crouched into a ready stance. “You wish.” he taunted, moving to hit Keith again. 

 

Water flew everywhere as the two continued to try and better each other in their splashing contest. 

 

They lost track of how much time they spent splashing each other, both pretty well evenly matched in their tactics. But Lance felt like he was starting to slip when he leaned back a bit and happened to catch a glimpse of Keith’s toned arm as he reached back to splash him again. He couldn’t get the image out of his mind as he attempted to dodge the next few attacks, but his attention was split between trying to catch another glimpse of the way water droplets clung to his wonderful muscles, and avoiding the watery attacks.

 

Once he got hit directly in the face from a well placed splash from Keith, Lance decided to change tactics and maybe play dirty. He sunk down under the surface while Keith was busy splashing him, and quickly swam over to the unexpecting Keith. Before Keith had a chance to react, he wrapped his arms around Keith’s chest to drag him under with him. 

 

They both popped up a few moments later, and Lance threw his head back to laugh loudly while Keith spluttered obnoxiously.

 

“I win.” Lance proclaimed, wiping the water from his face as he continued to chuckle. 

 

Keith coughed, trying to get some air back into his lungs. “No you… didn’t...” he breathed out. “You cheated.” he said with a frown, pushing his bangs back from his eyes. 

 

Lance bit at his lip and tried to rein in his giggles, but as soon as he turned to face Keith again, he was hit with the realization of how close they were. His nose was barely a couple inches away from Keith’s, and their eyes were pretty well at the same level here in the water. He never realized how beautiful Keith’s eyes were before. How the purple seemed even more enhanced against the clear blue water, showcasing the flecks of blue he had in them, and how prettily his eyelashes framed them. They were absolutely mesmerizing as Lance stared into them, his laughter fading out to shocked silence. 

 

Being this close, Lance noticed just how handsome and pretty he was, if both of those things together were even possible. The way his wet hair, currently plastered to his face and neck enhanced his face and somehow just made him even more handsome. Lance could feel his heartbeat in his fingertips, hear it roaring in his ears, speeding up the longer he stared at Keith.

 

A bead of water cascaded down the side of Keith’s face, and Lance’s gaze darted over to it. He unthinkingly moved to wipe it away, incidentally caressing Keith’s cheek in the process. 

 

Keith’s eyebrows twinged slightly at the contact, a blush spreading across his cheeks as he tried to not lean into Lance’s touch. “Lance?” he whispered hesitantly.

 

Keith’s voice snapped Lance out of his reverie, his eyes widening as he realised what he’d done. “I… Uh… Sorry!” he jerked away, pulling his hand back as if he’d been shocked. He could feel blood rushing to his face, and was sure that Keith could tell it wasn’t from the sun. He quickly whirled around, giving his back to Keith. “We should, uh… We should head back and see how the others are doing.” he said hasilty, and started swimming quickly to shore. 

 

He couldn’t believe he had done that. He was so stupid! Why did he do that? How was he supposed to face Keith now? He quickly gathered his armor and walked back to where the others were, water still dripping off of him. He didn’t wait up for Keith.

 

Keith swam up to shore behind him at a slower pace, his heart pounding harshly in his chest. He wanted to call out to Lance, to stop him, but he didn’t know what to say. He had never been in a situation like that before. He couldn’t get his cheeks to stop flushing, they felt hot, even to him. He pushed up and out of the water, and walked over to where he left his clothes. He gathered them up slowly, pushing his hair back from his forehead when it got in the way.

 

He was going to have to talk to Shiro about… What just happened. He just hoped that Lance would be alright until then. 

 

Keith wandered back to the others in a daze. His heart was still pounding in his chest at the image of Lance’s gorgeous face being so close to his. He was not prepared for something like that to happen… and why would he? Lance had been obsessed with Allura since this whole journey had started, so there was no reason for him to think Lance would ever return his feelings. 

 

He clutched his armor closer against his chest, took a deep breath to calm himself and shook his head of any lingering thoughts before straightening up to face the others. Once he felt more relaxed, he walked over to the black lion so he could dry off and change back into his armor. 

 

Before entering, he looked around quickly to see if he could spot Lance, but didn't see him with the group. He made brief eye contact with Shiro, who had a concerned look on his face. Keith gave him a small reassuring smile, before turning back and entering the black lion.

 

Searching through his bag, he found a towel and started to dry himself off. The water here seemed to be fresh water, so he didn’t have to worry about feeling sticky like he would if the water was salt. Once his skin was dry enough, he peeled his boardshorts off and began pulling on his black suit again. 

 

A knock sounded off on the wall near the doorway, pulling Keith from his quiet reverie. He turned around to see Shiro standing there, still wearing that concerned look on his face. 

 

“Uh, hey Shiro.” Keith said awkwardly, pulling his chest armor over his head.

 

Shiro walked up to stand beside him. “Everything alright?” he asked, sounding concerned.

 

Keith gave him a knowing look and sighed, giving up on finishing his armor for the moment. “I’m not sure…” he replied, looking down at his feet with a frown.

 

“Lance seemed to be a bit flustered when he returned.” Shiro commented with a raised brow. “He went straight into his lion and hasn't come out yet.” he put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Did you guys have a fight or something?”

 

Keith shook his head slowly before looking back up at Shiro. “I wish it were that simple. At least then I’d know what to do.” he remarked, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. “I… I think we had a moment.” Keith murmured quietly, as if saying the words too loud would break whatever  _ thing _ was happening between he and Lance. He couldn’t meet Shiro’s gaze, feeling incredibly embarrassed by his revelation.

 

Shiro cocked his head to the side, confused. “What do you mean a ‘moment’?” he asked.

 

Keith pulled away from Shiro’s grip, walking to the middle of his lion to put a bit of distance between them. He needed space from the man to be able to explain the situation. “I don’t know,” he exclaimed, whirling around to face Shiro. “I mean, one moment we were having a simple splash competition, and the next he’s right in front of me, staring at me like I’m, I don’t know, something beautiful or treasured and then he touched my cheek!” he rambled, his arms moving frantically as he speaks. “Then the next minute he's freaking out and running away and…” he trails off with a sigh, and rubs a hand down his face in exasperation. “I have no idea what to do because I’ve never been in this situation before.” Keith finishes loudly, and stalks back over to Shiro, then swiftly turns, leans against the wall and slides down it to sit on the floor.

 

Shiro sat down next to Keith, patting him on the knee reassuringly. “It’ll work itself out.” he assured, and gave Keith a small smile. “You just need to give Lance some time.”

 

Keith rested his head back against the wall. “I’ve never felt like this before, Shiro. My chest hurts everytime I see him and I just want to be around him all the time.” he whispered out.

 

WIth a soft chuckle, Shiro put his arm around Keith, bringing him into an embrace. “That sounds like love to me, kiddo.” he chuckled into Keith's hair. 

 

Keith groaned against Shiro's chest. “Love sucks.” he murmured, causing Shiro to laugh.

 

\----

 

Lance had immediately changed as soon as he got into his lion, his thoughts racing through his head. He could still feel his heart pounding in his chest, his cheeks hot from the blush that had refused to disappear. He fell into the pilot’s seat of his lion with a loud groan, leaning his head back against the headrest and squeezed his eyes closed. He was so stupid! Swimming was the worst idea that he could’ve come up with, being that close to Keith while he was half naked. “Arrhg.” Lance slapped his hands against his cheeks in frustration, trying to shake the images from his head. Keith probably thought he was some sort of creep now. 

 

Lance let his head fall forward to rest in his hands, fingers tugging harshly on any strands of hair they could grasp. The thought of Keith finding him repulsive made him sick, a icy coldness spiking through his stomach and chest. Why couldn’t he just keep it together!

 

He let a breath fizzle out from between his lips, and decided that he would just have to avoid Keith as much as possible until he could sort out his feelings. There was no sense dragging Keith into his messed up head right now. He stood up slowly, standing tall enough that he felt like he could at least let everyone believe that nothing was wrong, and took a final deep breath before exiting the red lion.

 

Once he jumped out of his lion, he walked straight over to Hunk, avoiding any eye contact with anyone in case Keith was there. 

 

Hunk was beside Pidge, both of them sitting in front of the red lion’s paws, like they were when Lance left them before. Hunk glanced up at him as he heard him approach.

 

“Hey buddy, how’s the diagnostics going?” Lance asked, trying to sound like his usual chipper self. 

 

“Not good, I’m afraid.” Hunk said with a sigh, and stood up.

 

“What’s going on?” Krolia asked, walking over to them. The rest of the team followed behind.

 

Hunk looked over at the group with a worried expression. “The lions just aren’t getting enough charge. It’s only a matter of time before the rest power down.” he explained helplessly.

 

“Is there anything we can do?” Keith asked, crossing his arms. Lance quickly looked away when he saw Keith glance at him.

 

Allura looked down sadly. “Without the Castle of Lions, there isn’t a lot we can do.”

 

“So we’re stuck here?” Romelle exclaimed, concerned.

 

Coran hummed. “There is a mineral that could help the charging process…” He said, twisting his mustache between his fingers thoughtfully. “...But it’s hard to come by.” he pursed his lips and looked up to the sky, trying to think of a solution. “Number five? Can you search for a planet that has Fornitonium?”

 

Pidge looked up from her work at the sound of her nickname. “Oh… Uh, sure. Give me a tick.” she replied, bringing up a new screen on her gauntlet to search her database. “Hmm… There seems to be a small one, not far from here. Maybe a couple of vargas?” she said, sifting through the information.

 

“Will the lions be able to make it that far?” Shiro asked, stating the question that everyone was thinking.

 

“We should be right as long as we don’t fly at full power.” Hunk assured. “At the moment, the blue and yellow lions have the most power.”

 

“Great!” Lance suddenly yelled, startling everyone. “Yellow can carry red and I’ll ride with Hunk.” he stated quickly, putting his hand on his hips with a big smile on his face.

 

Keith frowned slightly at Lance’s sudden outburst. He knew Lance was acting the fool to hide how he was really feeling, and it was disappointing. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when a familiar hand met his shoulder. He looked up to see Shiro shaking his head, silently telling him to leave it. With a slight pout, he gave Lance one more glance before looking over at the others. 

 

“Alright, let’s head off then shall we?” Allura suggested. “No point wasting anymore time here if we can’t do anything further.”

 

“I’ve sent the coordinates to your lions.” Pidge said, turning off her gauntlet and standing up. “Just remember to take it easy. We don’t know how long the other lions will hold out.” she reminded, dusting the sand off her clothes.

 

Everyone nodded. 

 

“Let’s go!” Lance called, pulling Hunk along, not looking back as the others dispersed to their own lions. 

 

When they were far enough away, Lance let out a heavy sigh in relief. Maybe avoiding Keith was going to be even harder than he thought.

 

Hunk jogged up to his side, noticing Lance’s change in demeanor. “You alright buddy?” he asked, matching his strides to Lance’s.

 

Lance immediately perked up, giving his best smile he could muster to his best friend. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” he replied.

 

Hunk frowned at him. “You looked a little upset when you came back earlier. Did you and Keith have a fight?” he asked meekly, trying to coax Lance into opening up.

 

Lance had to fight the blush that threatened to cover his face at the mere mention of the red paladin. “Nah man, everything’s all good.” he said quickly, hoping Hunk would drop the subject.

 

Hunk hummed, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, okay. I just thought you’d want to fly in black…” he trailed off.

 

Lance turned, starting to walk sideways so he could gauge Hunk’s feelings. “Wh-Why would I want that?” he asked.

 

“I just noticed that you and Keith had been spending a lot of time together lately…” Hunk began.

 

“Just cause I’ve been hanging with the guy doesn’t mean I want to be with him twenty four- seven.” Lance snapped angrily. “Besides, he has Shiro and Krolia and Blue, and what, can’t I just spend some time with my actual best friend?” he pouted, crossing his arms in a huff.

 

Hunk was shocked by his outburst, never seeing Lance blow up so quickly before. He raised his hands in surrender. “Whoa, sorry dude, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

 

Lance sighed heavily, letting his arms fall back to his sides defeatedly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just have a lot on mind at the moment.” he replied sadly.

 

Hunk put his arm around Lance’s shoulders in a half hug as they ambled along the sandbar to the yellow lion. “It’s alright. Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Lance offered him a small smile. “Nah, I just need some time to figure some stuff out.” 

 

Hunk nodded, letting go as they came up to the yellow lion. “Well, I’m here if you change your mind.” he reassured him.

 

Lance smiled, the first real genuine smile he’d given to Hunk in a while. He had missed talking to him like this again. “Thanks, bud. So, shall we go grab the red lion, then?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Hunk replied, then led the way into the yellow lion. 

 

He powered up his lion and took off back to the larger Island where the others were waiting. Moving carefully, he lined up above the red lion, picking the smaller lion up with ease. 

 

“All set, guys. Red lion is secure.” Hunk called through the comms, letting the others know they were ready to leave.

 

“Roger. Let’s head out.” Keith’s voice replied, as the black lion took off into the atmosphere with the others following closely behind.

  
  


\---

  
  


A few vargas later, another planet came into view, this one also resembled Earth, but was mainly land, unlike their home planet.

 

“Guys, hold up.” Pidge called out suddenly, stopping the green lion before they entered the atmosphere.

 

The others immediately stopped at her words, unquestioningly but wondering what the holdup was.

 

“What’s wrong?” Allura asked.

 

Pidge frowned down at her monitor. “It looks like there are galra settlements on this planet.” she replied.

 

“We can’t fight the galra in our condition. We can’t even form Voltron right now!” Hunk cried out.

 

“Pidge, is there any other planets we could try to find this mineral on?” Shiro asked through the black lion’s comm.

 

Pidge searched through her database, but growled when her search was fruitless. “Not with the amount of power our lions have.” she stated. “We have no choice but to land here.”

 

“Is there any part of the planet that isn’t occupied by galra?” Keith asked.

 

Pidge hummed as she scanned the planet. “There looks like there is a small location on the far side of the planet that looks pretty deserted. We should hopefully be able to hide out there.” she said hesitantly.

 

“Guys, are we really going to head down into a glara infested planet with only four barely working lions?” Hunk queried, gripping his control sticks anxiously.

 

“We don’t have any other option. The lions won’t make it to another planet that harbours the material we need.” Allura stated. “We’ll just need to be careful to not draw attention to ourselves.”

 

“No point in wasting any more time discussing it then.” Keith interrupted firmly. “Pidge, lead the way. We should keep moving.”

 

“Uh… Alright, then.” Pidge replied, pulling up the best route to be undetected before flying off.

 

They managed to fly into the atmosphere and land in a large clearing undetected, the tall trees and cliff face giving their lions enough cover to hide below. The group exited the lions, gathering in front of them to come up with a plan. 

 

Pidge brought up her screen, trying to scan for the Fornitonium mineral. Hunk and Coran came up beside her on either side, watching her screen avidly. “I can’t get a clear reading… There’s something interfering with the scanner.” she huffed.

 

“Maybe the galra tech is causing the interference?” Hunk suggested with a shrug.

 

Pidge growled in frustration. “Well whatever it is, we won’t be able to scan for it’s exact location.” she said, closing the screen. “We’ll just have to look for it ourselves.”

 

Keith came up to three of them. “How are we supposed to do that? The planet is huge, and crawling with galra.” he asked, crossing his arms.

 

“Our best bet is to split into two teams.” Shiro advised, walking up to them. “We’ll be able to cover more ground, and be less likely to be detected being in smaller groups.”

 

“Coran and Pidge know the most about the mineral, so they should lead the teams.” Allura suggested. 

 

Everyone looked over to Coran and Pidge, and they both nodded in agreement.

 

“Alright, Hunk, Allura and Romelle, you go with Pidge. The rest of us will follow Coran.” Shiro instructed. 

 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Lance came up to the group waving his hands defensively in front of himself. “I wanna go with Pidge.” he stated firmly.

 

Keith frowned at Lance’s blatant attempt to avoid being on the same team as him, and  looked over to Shiro to avoid looking at Lance.

 

“Coran and I can’t fight, so if we get surprised by the galra we’ll need you on our side.” Shiro explained, hoping to make Lance understand.

 

Lance quickly glanced over at Keith, before sighing. He couldn't let his feelings get in the way of the mission, especially with a defenseless Shiro on the line. “Yeah, alright.” He agreed with a sigh. “Let’s go.” he walked over to Coran without a second glance at any of his other teammates. 

 

“As soon as one of us finds the Fornitonium, let the other group know and we’ll meet up back here.” Pidge instructed. 

 

“How are we going to collect it?” Hunk asked. “Do we have any containers?”

 

Coran walked over to the blue lion with a spring in his step. “We sure do!” He climbed in and returned a moment later with a handful of small capsules, walking back to the team. “Here.” he said, handing them out. “Just push the button on the top and it’ll expand.” 

 

Everyone nodded. 

 

“Let’s get going, then, while we still have daylight.” Krolia said, calling Blue over to her side.

 

The group split up into the two teams and walked off in opposite directions.

 

Coran led his team, with Shiro, Krolia, Lance and Keith following close behind. 

 

They walked in silence for nearly a varga before coming up to another clearing, the heat from the sun making it almost unbearable.

 

Just before reaching the edge of the forest, Shiro slowed to a stop. “We should rest for a bit, we don’t need anyone getting heat exhaustion.” he recommended, wiping some sweat from his brow. 

 

“That’s a good idea while we still have cover from the trees.” Krolia agreed, moving to sit on a nearby fallen log. Blue followed her to the log, and curled up on the ground in front of her.

 

Shiro and Coran joined her, discussing their next route quietly.

 

Keith glanced over to Lance, who was standing off to the side, away from the group and looking away from him. Lance still hadn’t said one word since the incident on the last planet. He didn’t really understand why Lance was acting this way. So, putting on the best neutral mask he could muster, he made his way over to Lance’s side to find out. “Hey.” 

 

Lance whirled around, surprised by Keith’s sudden presence. “Uh.. hey.” he replied, subconsciously stepping back. 

 

Seeing Lance step away hurt Keith a little more than he anticipated, but he ignored his own feelings. “Are you alright?” he asked gently, respecting the space Lance had put between them.

 

Lance avoided his gaze, looking over Keith's shoulder. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” he replied, trying to remain normal and casual.

 

Keith pursed his lips, trying to remain calm. “It’s just… You’ve been avoiding me since… you know…” he waved his hand vaguely, knowing Lance would know what he meant. “Did I upset you?” 

 

Lance finally met Keith’s gaze, seeing the hurt and sadness swirling in his gorgeous eyes, and immediately felt guilty. “No! No. I’m sorry…” he began, closing his eyes briefly to regain composure. “Look, about what happened... It just really confused me, and I just need some space to deal with it.” he explained. “You haven’t done anything wrong.” he assured, offering a small smile in hopes that Keith would be alright with his explanation.

 

Keith nodded, grateful that Lance had finally been truthful with him. “Alright. I’ll leave you to continue your brooding, then.” he returned Lance’s smile before dropping his head and walked over to the others.

 

Lance thought about jumping to the bait Keith was obviously giving him, but decided against it so he didn’t give him the wrong idea. He turned his back to Keith again and let out the breath he was holding as he heard Keith walk away. He felt bad for hurting Keith, but he knew this was the right thing to do. Once he figured out his feelings, then he’d talk to Keith about it. He deserved to know, especially since it directly pertained to him.

 

He just wished his heart would get the memo his brain was trying to tell it.

 

The others had quieted down, so Lance turned back and walked over to the group. “So, what’s the plan now?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips as he bent down to look down at Coran’s map.

 

“There looks like there might be a source nearby.” Coran pointed to the location on the map. It seemed the closer they got to the source the clearer the signal became. “We just need to make it through this clearing.” he gestured out past the edge of the forest, towards the large expanse of clearing between the forests.

 

“That’s a pretty big clearing, it’ll be easy to be spotted. Is there a way around?” Shiro asked, concerned about being exposed out in the open for such a long period of time.

 

Coran hummed. “I mean there is, but it’ll take an extra half a quintant.” he replied.

 

“If we move quickly, we should be able to go through the clearing undetected.” Keith offered, not wanting to walk further than required in the heat. 

 

Shiro nodded. “Alright, we’ll go through the clearing, but everyone keep an eye out.”

 

The group got up and began to make their way to the clearing. Shiro motioned them to stop once they got to the edge of the forest, and stepped forwards to check for any movement. Once he declared it safe, he motioned the team to move, Coran still leading the way. 

 

Surprisingly, they made it through the clearing without any issues. Once they were safe on the other side, Coran walked over to a small cave that was practically hidden in the bush. 

 

“I think this is it!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I’m getting a strong signal from down here.”

 

“Do you think it's safe?” Lance asked, raising his eyebrows, curiously. 

 

“One way to find out…” Keith stated, pushing past the group to enter the cave.

 

The others didn't argue as they followed Keith into the darkness. He used the light on his gauntlet to help guide them down the jagged slope. 

 

The cave wasn't overly large, with just enough room to walk the corridors without having to bend over and the walls being barely larger than an arms length apart. The darkness of the cave made it significantly cooler though, which everyone was grateful for as they continued the trek. 

 

Eventually they stumbled across a larger room that received some sunlight from the cracks in the roof. 

 

Coran walked over to a small pile of rocks near the centre and bent down, pushing some of the smaller rocks away. He saw some glowing particles rise from the ground and cheered. “This is it!” he called, pulling out his capsule. 

 

The others rushed up next to him as he began digging in the same spot, allowing more glowing specs to be freed. Coran grabbed some of the mineral and placed it in his container.

 

“Will there be enough for all the lions?” Keith asked, frowning at the small amount Coran was digging up. 

 

Coran stopped for a moment and looked around the cave, noticing some other small deposit sites. “We should be fine if we collect as much as we can from this cave.” he said, motioning to the other mounds, before continuing his dig.

 

Keith pulled out his capsule and walked over to another pile of rocks, kneeling down to start digging. 

 

The others followed suit, each taking a separate mound. Not long after, they had five full containers of Fornitonium. 

 

“This should do quite nicely.” Coran commented, patting his container proudly. “I’d say this mission was a success.” he stated happily, getting ready to leave. 

 

“Now we just need to contact the others and get back to the lions.” Shiro said, getting up from his kneeling position. “Can one of you contact Pidge?” he asked, looking towards Lance and Keith.

 

Keith didn't even look at Lance before switching his comm on in his helmet. “Pidge, this is Keith, we’ve found the Fornitonium and are on our way back to the lions.” he said, waiting for a reply. 

 

After a few moments of hearing nothing, he frowned and tried again. “Pidge, can you hear me?” he waited again, but heard nothing, not even static, in return. He turned to Shiro with a frown. “I guess there's no reception down here or something? I’ll have to wait till we get outside.” he stated, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. Blue came up to him and tapped the back of Keith’s hand with his nose, reminding him that he was there.

 

Shiro nodded. “Alright, let's head out then.” he said, walking towards the cave exit, the others following close behind.

 

They continued down the path until they saw the light from the cave entrance. The light was blinding as they exited the cave, all five of them holding their hands up across their eyes to shield them from the brightness. 

 

Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they came face to face with a galra squad, guns pointed straight at them.

 

“Oh, quiznak.” Coran muttered, holding his container of Fornitonium close to his chest. 

 

Keith growled under his breath and pulled out his galra blade and bayard. 

 

Lance followed suit with his own bayard, forming his assault rifle. 

 

Krolia also pulled out her smaller guns from her hip holsters, getting into a fighting stance. 

 

“Guys, we are severely outnumbered. I don't think fighting them is a good idea.” Shiro remarked, feeling useless.

 

Keith just smirked feeling his wolf come up behind him. “They may outnumber us, my I bet they won't be expecting this...” he said lowly to the group, and reached down to grab a fistful of Blue’s mane. As soon as he did, the pair disappeared, suddenly re-appearing behind the group of galra soldiers. He cut three of the soldiers down before they knew what hit them, and turned to meet the next attackers once they realized what was happening.

 

Krolia was next to fire, taking the opportunity to take out a few stunned galra troops down on her own.

 

Snapping out of his stupor of Keith's amazing disappearing trick, Lance took aim and took down any soldiers that came into his scope. 

 

Coran and Shiro ran back towards the cave for cover, watching as Keith, Lance and Krolia fought their way through soldier after soldier. It was an impressive sight. Both Lance and Krolia had impeccable aim with their guns, and Keith was zipping in and out with his wolf, slicing down anyone who got too close to his blades. 

 

It didn't take long for them to clear the field of galra troops. Shiro and Coran came out from the cave as the other three began to walk back to meet them with battle-tired smiles.

 

“That was incredible!” Coran shouted. “I haven't seen teamwork like that in a long time.” he complimented.

 

“Thanks, Coran.” Keith replied. He turned to Lance to say something about his shooting skills, when his eye caught some purple movement coming out from behind a tree. When the soldier raised its gun, aiming at an unsuspecting Lance, Keith acted fast. He grabbed for Lance and spun him so their positions were reversed, and braced for impact.

 

Even though he was prepared for it, the shot from the blaster still rattled his bones. Pain throbbed from his back, just below where his paladin armor ended below his ribs, pulsing quickly with each rapid heartbeat. He grunted in agony, and dropped forwards onto his knees, his hands still wrapped tightly around whatever part of Lance he’d grabbed.

 

Gunshots echoed around him, but he couldn’t focus on them. His vision was going blurry from the pain, and all he could see was blue. Until even that faded away, to nothing.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN!! So Keith is injured and they are stuck in the middle of nowhere! How are Lance, Shiro, Krolia and Coran gonna react?? Stay tuned for chapter 6!
> 
> Thank you for reading and please comment and let me know what you thought :D
> 
> Feel free to come talk Voltron or Klance with me on tumblr [@forsakenangel88](http://forsakenangel88.tumblr.com/) or twitter [@ForsakeAngel88](https://twitter.com/ForsakeAngel88)
> 
> Til next time!


	6. Days 7- 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith isn't doing so well, feelings become clearer and the team find an unexpected way to get to Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is full of angst hahah oops. I honestly really love this chapter and I hope you guys do as well! 
> 
> Thank you [@winter-and-little-brunettes](http://winter-and-little-brunettes.tumblr.com/) again for being my amazing beta!
> 
> The next chapter will be up before S7 airs to look forward to that as well!

The gunshot hadn’t even finished echoing through the area when Keith suddenly collapsed against him, his head lolling against his shoulder.

Lance froze, his eyes wide in shock. What…? It wasn’t until Keith’s limp body started slipping that Lance jerked back into action, supporting his body and laying him flat against the ground.

His brain couldn’t keep up with what was happening. One moment Keith was smiling at him, and the next, Lance found his place switched with Keith’s, and could only stand by and watch as Keith’s face contorted in pain before he passed out.

“Keith?” Lance whispered, shaking him gently. “Keith?” he repeated, more loudly this time. When no answer came, the growing tightness in his chest spiked, almost like the cold blade of a knife meeting flesh. He shifted onto his knees, and rolled Keith over slightly to see where he’d been hit.

On his back, just to the left of his spine and a hair below where his chest armor ended, was a growing red spot. With trembling fingers, he pulled the edges of the singed black suit away from the mark.

There was a large burn mark marring the skin around the actual wound, harsh and red against his pale skin. The wound itself was dark red, stained by little bits of shredded black undersuit sticking into the mess. Lance winced, and let the suit fall back into place.

Footsteps rushed over to the pair, but Lance couldn’t focus on that. As he turned Keith back over and pulled his head onto his lap, he couldn’t stop staring at Keith’s pale face.

The way his eyes were pinched shut, like he was still in pain even though he was unconscious. How ashen his face looked beneath his inky black hair, how pale his lips… This was all Lance’s fault, if only he’d seen the damn sentry, he could have prevented this...

A hand clasped his shoulder, and he jerked at the contact, but he didn’t dare look away from Keith’s face for even a moment, lest he miss something. He knew it was Shiro without even looking at him. “What happened?” Shiro asked.

“K-Keith, he,” Lance started, and cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the lump wedged there, “he took a hit for me.”

“He what?” Krolia exclaimed, and knelt down beside her son. “How did this happen?”

“I-I don’t know,” Lance whispered, and hunched over until his forehead was brushing against Keith’s hair. He let his hand wind up towards his chest, making sure there was still a solid rising and falling action.

He waited for a few moments for his hand to rise and fall, in the rhythmic motion of someone breathing, but nothing happened. His breath caught in his throat when he leaned forwards and put his ear to Keith’s chest, waiting to hear something, anything…

But was met with nothing.

Lance sat upright so fast he knocked into Shiro’s legs. “Keith!” He shrieked, and tried shaking his shoulders, as if that would wake him. “Oh no no no, this-this can’t be happening.” he babbled, shaking his shoulders a little harder.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked, and knelt down beside the pair.

“He’s not breathing,” he whispered in response. He could feel his hands starting to shake as he released Keith’s shoulders, turning to look at Shiro slowly. “He-he’s not breathing, Shiro!”

Krolia fell to her knees next to Lance, staring at her injured son in disbelief. “Keith…” she whispered heartbrokenly as tears started to well up in her eyes. “No… He can’t!” she cut off with a sob, and clutched her arms tightly to her chest.

Coran looked on helplessly, gripping his container close to his chest. 

“We can still save him.” Shiro said determinedly, drawing everyone’s attention. “Lance, do you remember your CPR training from the Garrison?” he asked, looking at the younger man. He knew he wouldn’t be much use with only one arm.

Lance nodded slowly. He knew that he would be Keith’s only option, with Shiro unable to offer proper aid, and Coran and Krolia unfamiliar with the concept.

“Alright then, help me remove Keith’s chest armor and lay him on his back.” Shiro instructed firmly, moving to kneel opposite Lance. They had to act quickly, lest Keith stay in his current state.

Shiro lifted Keith’s upper body off of the ground so Lance could start pulling at his damaged armor. Once he removed the offending piece of protection, Shiro laid Keith back on the ground between the two of them.

“Good, now we need to do thirty chest compressions.” Shiro guided, as Lance moved his shaky hands over Keith’s chest in the correct position. Lance began to press down, counting each compression in rhythm, with Shiro counting alongside him quietly. “Great, now give him two breaths.” he stated as soon as Lance finished the compressions.

Lance didn’t hesitate as he followed Shiro’s direction, placing one hand on Keith’s chin, pushing his head back to open the airway, the other pinching Keith’s nose. He took a deep breath and placed his mouth over Keith’s, blowing the breath into Keith’s body. He looked over to see his chest rise, before repeating once more and waited for a response.

Keith made no reaction.

Lance’s heart clenched painfully in his chest as he went back to Keith’s chest to restart the compressions. This had to work, Keith had to come back… He couldn’t just, die for Lance. He couldn’t accept that.

Coran wrapped a supportive arm around Krolia as they watched anxiously. Shiro held Keith’s hand in a tight grip, blinking frantically to keep the tears at bay.

Lance blinked the tears from his eyes as he finished his second set of compressions and moved over to start the breaths again. “Come on, Keith.” he whispered desperately, after his first breath. He had just got Keith back after he leaving the team all those months ago… He wasn’t ready to lose him again. 

A moment after the second breath, Keith heaved in a raggedy breath, his chest rising and falling on its own. Lance fell back, leaning on his calves as he let out a shaky sigh of relief, more tears falling from his eyes.

Keith was alive. Oh god, Keith was alive.

Shiro let out a wet chuckle as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Good job, Lance.” he commended.

Krolia and Coran wrapped their arms around Lance gratefully. “Thank you for saving him.” Krolia cried, squeezing Lance tightly. Blue came over and gave him a friendly nudge with his nose, rubbing his face against Lance’s side. 

Even though everyone was patting him on the back, congratulating him… He didn’t feel like he deserved it. The voices around him drowned into background noise as the events of the past few minutes played on repeat in his head, swirling faster and faster each time. Keith had nearly died, right here in Lance’s arms. What crazy irony is that? Keith took a bullet for him, and then nearly died for it. He protected him, even when Lance pushed him away and told him that he needed space.

A cold chill ran down the length of his spine at the thought. ‘I just need some space’, he’d said. Like a coward, he’d backed away from Keith. And just now, he’d nearly gotten his wish. Keith almost left forever, and it made him realize how much he never wanted to be separated from him again.

Even if he hadn’t really decided on his feelings, Keith deserved that much.

A beeping sound suddenly came from his gauntlet, and he answered the call before realizing that he had.

“Guys, you will never believe who we found here!” Pidges cheerful voice echoed through the comm. 

Lance opened his mouth to answer, but found he couldn’t form the words, so closed his mouth.

“Uh, Lance?” Pidge asked, confused.

Shiro noticed Lance’s emotionless state, and leaned over so his face was on the screen. “Pidge, we need to meet up at the lions as soon as possible.” Shiro answered firmly in Lance’s place.

“What happened? Why didn’t Lance answer?” Pidge responded, her cheerfulness replaced with concern.

“Keith’s taken a pretty bad hit and needs medical attention urgently.” Shiro replied. “We’ll meet you at the lions in about half a varga.”

“Right. See you soon.” She said quickly before shutting off the comm.

Shiro looked up at the others. “We need to move. Keith may be breathing on his own now, but he’s still in critical condition.” he said, standing up.

Krolia and Coran stood up with him, gathering up the containers of Fornitonium quickly. 

Lance stayed on the ground, watching Keith’s chest rise and fall as he took shallow breaths.

Keith was alive. He had died, however briefly, protecting him… He had essentially caused Keith’s death because he hadn’t been aware of his surroundings, like he should have been. What did Shiro and Krolia think of him? Sure, now they were relieved and grateful that Keith is alive, but when he wakes up, will they hate him? What about the rest of the team? And more importantly…

What would Keith think of him?

Lance hunched forwards and tried to will his hands to stop shaking. He really was a liability to the team. He would have to try harder and train more. He couldn’t, wouldn’t let this happen again. He would protect Keith and his team to ensure none of them ever endangered themselves because of him ever again.

“Who’s going to take Keith?” Coran asked, after strapping three bags of mineral to his back.

“I will.” Lance replied determinedly, his voice hoarse from disuse. He rocked back onto his haunches before standing up, only to lose his balance and teeter to the side. He caught himself after the stumble and stood upright, but not without a hunch to his shoulders.

“Lance, are you alright?” Shiro asked with concern, placing his hand on Lance’s arm to help him keep him steady. “I can take him.” he offered.

Lance shook his head at Shiro’s offer. “No, I want to do it.” he said firmly, and bent down to lift the unconscious Keith in his arms. He made sure that Keith’s head was cradled into his own neck, and his arms crossed up against his chest before standing up all the way. He knew it was a bridal style carry, but this way Lance could be sure Keith was still breathing. With every soft puff of air that left Keith’s lips and hit his neck, Lance felt sure that he’d be alright, if only for a moment,

But that didn’t mean he was going to leave Keith’s side. Not until he woke up and was back to his normal self.

Shiro watched on, making sure to stay close incase Lance collapsed again. Once he was sure Lance had Keith and would be fine, he looked over to the others. “Alright, let’s head back.” 

They walked quickly back through the clearing, and through the forest in silence, keeping an eye out for any more galra. Lance kept a firm grip on Keith, looking down every few moments to check up on him. Blue ambled along next to him, offering a comforting bump of his nose to Lance’s knee occasionally. 

The others were already at the lions by the time they made their way back. Pidge, Hunk and Allura ran up to Lance and Keith. 

“What happened?” Hunk shrieked, seeing how pale Keith was.

Lance bit at his lip and shook his head, unable to speak.

Shiro walked up beside him. “We were ambushed by a group of galra. Keith took a hit to the back-” he explained, pausing when he saw Lance wince out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Lance’s eyes clenched shut as tears ran down his cheeks. He turned back to look at the others, solemnly.  “Lance had to perform CPR.” 

Pidge, Hunk and Allura gasped in shock, tears forming in Pidge’s eyes. 

“He needs medical assistance urgently.” Krolia remarked, her eyes still red and puffy.

Pidge snapped out of her shock, her eyes going wide. “OH!” she exclaimed, turning back to motion to the group of people that were in masks behind her. Someone took notice and started walking over, deactivating his mask on the way. It was Matt. “We found Matt and some of the rebels here.” Pidge explained. “He said they can help.” 

Matt stopped in front of Lance and peered down at Keith, looking over him before frowning. “Come on, bring him to our ship. We’ll be able to help him in there.” he stated quickly, walking away to talk to the other rebels. 

“Their ship is a few vargas walk away so we’ll need to take our lions.” Pidge informed them. “While the rebels look after Keith, we’ll be able to recharge the lions.”

“How will we get the black and red lions there?” Krolia asked.

“Yellow should be able to carry black the short distance and blue will take red.” Hunk explained, already having planned the trip before the group had arrived. 

Shiro placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “We’ll fly with you, if that’s alright Hunk?” he asked.

Hunk nodded. “Of course.” he replied, glancing worriedly over at Lance. He had never seen his friend look so pale and distraught. 

“Alright, let’s head off. We can’t afford to waste anymore time.” Shiro stated, leading Lance over to the yellow lion, Blue continued walking beside Lance, never leaving his side. Hunk and Krolia followed behind quietly.

Pidge, Matt and the rebels piled into the green lion, while Allura, Coran and Romelle hoped into blue. 

In a matter of moments, the lions were off, green leading as yellow and blue followed carrying their extra lions.  

A short flight later, they arrived at the rebels base; rebel ships and camps scattered across a vast clearing, surrounded by several cliff faces. Matt instructed them to land by the main ship in the centre of the encampment. Once everyone was safely out of the lions, Matt walked up to the main ship.

“This is where all our medical supplies and technicians are.” Matt explained, leading the group through the ship’s corridors. “They will be able to help.”

Everyone looked around, amazed by what they saw. They’d never seen anything like this before; med bays were lined up against the walls in rows, several machines scattered between the beds. There were patients and doctors littered throughout the room. It looked like a fully functional high tech hospital.

“How did you guys get all this?” Pidge asked in wonderment as she scanned all the amazing tech around her.

Matt smiled at his little sister. “The Olkari helped build most of this. They’ve improved a lot of our ships so we can help a lot more civilians on our missions.” he explained.

They stopped in front of a door, and Matt turned to address the group. “In here is our best medical technician. She’ll be able to help Keith.” He smiled, pushing the door open. 

The room was a decent size, with a bed in the middle of the room surrounded by machines and monitors. Someone stood in the corner with their back to the group, they wore a white coat, the back of her head covered with bluish silver scales, similarly like a dragon. 

Matt led the way, strolling into the room casually. “Hey, Ellia.” He called, grabbing her attention.

Ellia turned around at the sound of her name. “Oh, Matt, hello.” she replied softly, giving him a small smile, before turning her attention to Keith in Lance’s arms. “Ah, this must be Keith, the patient you called ahead about.” she noted, and indicated to the bed in the room. “Please, lay him on the bed. I will begin the examination immediately.” she instructed, walking over to turn the monitors on.

Lance walked silently over to the bed and carefully placed Keith down before stepping to the side out of the way, but not too far.

Shiro and Krolia walk up to stand next to him, Blue at his feet. The others waited in the corner of the room, trying not to crowd the examination table, but still watched on anxiously.

Ellia set about her work quietly, bustling around the bed setting things up. “You are very lucky to have brought him so quickly.” she commented as she worked, pressing buttons and typing on her screen. “His vitals are terribly low…”

“Can you help him?” Shiro asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

Ellia hummed as light beams scanned Keith’s body. “I can, but it will take a few quintants. Although…” she hesitates, looking up at the group before continuing. “His injuries are severe. It is possible that he may fall into a coma.”

Lance glanced away from the doctor’s kind eyes, grinding his teeth harshly as he stared at the ground. He could feel his hands tightening into fists, hard enough that his nails dug into his palms, but welcomed the sting it caused.

This was all his fault.

He’d heard that most people who fell into comas never woke up, stuck in some weird dream-like state that removed them completely from reality. That couldn’t happen to Keith. He was too strong, too brave, too good to be stuck in a coma for the rest of his life. The thought of Keith, laying in a hospital bed, pale and weak life gnawed at his insides like creeping ice.

A hand patted his shoulder lightly, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. Hunk was looking at him with that concerned and worried look he usually got when he was worried about someone but didn’t want to say anything about it.

“Hey man, we’re going to go recharge the lions. Do you wanna come?” Hunk asked gently. “There’s nothing else we can do here.”

Lance looked back over to Keith. He’d been put into some sort of pod, wires and monitors keeping track of his vitals. Lance hadn’t even noticed. He looked back over to Hunk and shook his head. “I’ll stay.” he whispered, and stepped away from Hunk, to grab the chair that was next to the pod to sit down. He had no plans to move anytime soon. Blue moved over with him and sat between his feet, offering his quiet support. Lance dug his hands into the fur on the back of Blue’s neck to ground himself as he prepared for a long wait.

“Uh…” Hunk tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t come up with anything. He was worried, Lance was acting weird and he had no idea how to help his best friend.

Shiro walked up to him and bumped his shoulder against Hunk’s reassuringly. “I’ll keep an eye on him.” he said softly. “I’ll let you know if anything changes, for either of them.”

Hunk smiled gently. “Thanks, Shiro.” He gave the older man a quick hug before walking out of the room to meet up with the others. 

Krolia walked up to take Hunk’s place beside Shiro. “I’m going to go get some food. Do you want me to bring you anything?” she asked quietly.

Shiro turned to look at Lance, but nodded to Krolia’s question. “That would be great. Can you get something small for Lance as well?” he replied quietly.

“Sure thing. I’ll be back soon.” Krolia replied, and gave Shiro’s shoulder a quick squeeze before leaving him and Lance alone in the room with Keith.

Shiro took a moment to simply look at Lance as he sat there in front of the pod. Even through the paladin suit, he could see how tense Lance’s shoulders looked the longer he stared at Keith’s immobile form. He’d had suspicions of Lance’s feelings towards Keith for a while now, but today’s events set them in stone. He’d never seen Lance so distraught over anything or anyone… As much as he was happy for Keith to have someone like Lance, especially knowing how both boys felt about the other, he could only hope and pray that Keith would be strong enough to find out for himself.

He knew he had to be strong for Keith, for Krolia, and especially for Lance. But, he was scared. Keith was a little brother to him, and even before Voltron, they had been through so much together… He had no idea what he would do if he lost him.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind and went to grab a chair from the corner to pull it up beside Lance. “Hey, how are you doing?” he asked gently as he sat down.

Lance doesn’t look away from the pod for even a moment. “I’m fine.” he gritted out, and bit at his lip harshly when tears threatened to slip.

Shiro placed his hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Hey, it’s going to be alright.” he said soothingly, trying to comfort Lance. “Keith’s a fighter. He’ll pull through.”

Lance turned to glare at Shiro. “You can’t know that!” he yelled, clenching his fists again. “He could go into a coma and die! Don’t you understand?” He stood up and stalked over to the pod, resting his open palm against the glass. He was quiet for a moment, before he blew out a long, calming breath. “We could lose him, Shiro…” he murmured, almost too quietly for Shiro to hear. “We could lose him, and what would happen then? Voltron would be dismantled, and the galra could take over the entire universe, including Earth. Krolia would lose her only family left, and you would lose your brother, and I…”

Lance’s shoulders started to shake, and he let his forehead drop forwards against the glass with a soft thump. Shiro saw a few teardrops fall to the floor, and immediately stood up to offer Lance any support that he could. “And I,” Lance repeated weakly, “I won’t get to- to tell him how I feel.” he finished with a sob, and dropped down to his knees, tears flowing freely down his cheeks now.

Shiro crouched down beside him and wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulders, pulling his face into his shoulder.

“I- I told him I need- needed space. And I th-thought I did!” Lance choked out between sobs. “I’m so confused, but I- I can’t lose him, Shiro!” he cried out, and leaned heavily into Shiro, letting his arms wind around the other man’s waist.

Shiro rubbed Lance’s arm reassuringly. “He’s going to be fine, Lance.” he stated, unsurprised by Lance’s confession. “He’ll wake up, and then you can tell him what you know of your feelings.”

Lance lifted his head to look up at Shiro, confused. “My feelings…? What?”

Shiro shrugged slightly. “You guys have known each other for a long time and you have a lot in common. I don’t know if your feelings are the same, but I can tell you care about Keith a lot.” he replied, giving Lance a reassuring smile.

Lance just stared up at him unblinking. “But… He… We were rivals? We hated each other…” He murmured, thinking out loud.

Shiro chuckled fondly with a shake of his head. “You may have been rivals, but I can tell you that Keith has never hated you. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.” he explained, smiling sadly up at Keith. “He looks up to you a lot. He may have been the best pilot at the Garrison, but he’s not good at a lot of other things. He’s learned a lot from you, Lance.”

Lance looked over at Keith and frowned. He’d had no idea that Keith looked up to him, for anything. He’d always assumed that Keith thought he was better than him, at least back when they met at the Garrison, and again shortly after forming Voltron. Lance had admired Keith’s natural talent and strived to be just as good as him. He had even tried to be Keith’s friend… But at the time Keith hadn’t seemed to want anything to do with him. Had he misread the situation? Maybe Keith truly just didn’t know how to be someone’s friend. The thought made Lance feel even more hollow inside. He had been so mean to Keith, always teasing him and provoking him. How could Keith possibly still want to be friends with him?  

Lance glanced over at Shiro, his eyes still red and puffy from crying earlier. “Do you hate me?” he asked quietly.

Shiro frowned, confused. “What? Why would I hate you, Lance?”

Lance sighed, dropping his eyes to the ground. “Because of how I treated him at the Garrison and when we first started Voltron… And for getting him into this mess.” 

Shiro put his hand on Lance’s shoulder, bringing his gaze to meet his. “You were only kids when you were at the Garrison. You two have grown a lot over the past year. And this,” he motioned towards the pod, “this wasn’t your fault. Keith did what he did to protect you. I know he doesn’t hold any grudges against you and I don’t either. I’m really proud of you, y’know.” he said with a small smile, trying to reassure him.

Lance stared up at him in amazement. Even after everything he’d done, all of the stupid flirting and reckless mistakes, Shiro was proud of him and didn’t hate him. Tears began to well up in his eyes again as he flung his arms around Shiro’s shoulders. “Thank you.” he replied into Shiro’s armor. 

Shiro smiled, wrapping his arm around Lance’s back. “If you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.” he said. 

The door to the room opened with a woosh as Krolia walked in with a tray of food. 

Shiro and Lance broke apart as Shiro stood up to grab a chair for her to sit next to them.

“Thanks.” she replied to the gesture, offering a small smile. “How are you guys?” she asked walking over to them.

Shiro took his seat as Lance sat back in his, rubbing between Blue’s ears soothingly. “As well as can be expected.” Shiro replied. “You?”

She offered a sandwich roll both to Lance and Shiro before taking one for herself. She put the tray down and sighed gently. “I’m really scared.” she answered honestly, gazing sadly at her son where he lay prone in the pod. “I don’t want to lose him. He’s all I have left.”

Lance felt guilt run through him as she spoke. “I’m sorry.” he whispered sadly.

Krolia looked over at him startled. “Oh, I didn’t mean to sound like I was blaming you, Lance.” she said quickly. “If anything, I owe you his life. That, ‘CPR’ thing you did for him is the reason we were able to bring him here. I am so grateful, and I know he will be too.” she finished, giving him a grateful smile. 

Lance frowned slightly, but nodded anyways. Why was no one mad at him for causing Keith to be injured?

“I’m sure he will be fine.” Shiro said, interrupting his thoughts. “Keith is strong, he won’t give up so easily.” 

All three of them looked over at Keith and smiled sadly.

“Yeah, he is…” Lance replied wistfully.   

 

\---

 

Coran, Pidge, Hunk and Matt had been working on the lions since they left Keith’s room. Matt and the rebels had been able to provide them with equipment to harness the Fornitonium and plug it straight into the lion's power cores.  

“Alright, this is the last one.” Hunk called out, plugging the final cable into the yellow lion. 

“Great! Let’s hope this works.” Pidge called back, and flicked a few switches to turn on the machine.

She stood back as Hunk joined her, watching the glowing mineral flow through the tubes and up into the lions. After a few moments, she could hear the green lion purring in the back of her mind. That meant that her lion was slowly regaining its energy, that the Fornitonium was working.

“Looks like it’s working.” Coran commented, his hands on his hips as he looked up at the mighty machines. “It’s going to take a while, though. Their power was severely depleted.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “So looks like we won’t be getting to Earth anytime soon.” he remarked with a small pout to Pidge.

“Yeah, I guess not.” she sighed. “Too bad we can’t make wormholes anymore.” 

It seemed like Matt suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a large grin on his face. “Well, actually,” he said slyly, caausing Pidge to jump, crashing into Hunk, “we might be able to help with that.”

Allura and Romelle walked over to the group just as everyone turned to Matt questioningly. “But we’d need a teleduv and a crystal to power the wormhole… Do you have that?” Allura replied, confused.

“We’ve been working closely with the Olkari for a while now.” Matt began. “After your battle with Zarkon, they started to engineer a way to make a worm hole without the use of a crystal that large.” Matt explained. “We actually have a small teleduv here with us. All we would need is a way to power it.”

“OHH!” Hunk yelled out, startling everyone. “When the castle was destroyed, it left behind that crystal, remember? We could use that!”

“Isn’t that a little small though?” Pidge enquired, crossing her arms.

“I could help power it.” Allura added thoughtfully. “I could harness the power of the crystal and Voltron. That should be enough power to make one jump.”

Hunk and Pidge looked at each other, thoughts of how to make this work rolling in their minds. It was risky… There were a lot of elements that relied on people’s abilities rather than science, but if it got them back to Earth, then it was worth it.

“Great, let get to work then.” Hunk stated. “We can’t do anything more with the lions until they are recharged, anyways.”

“Should someone tell the others?” Romelle asked.

The others glanced around at each other skeptically. “Uh… We should probably leave them to it.” Hunk suggested softly. “They’ve been through a lot.”

Pidge nodded in agreement. “We can tell them at dinner.” She turned to Matt. “Can you lead us to your teleduv? We should start working on it.”

“Sure can. Right this way.” he replied, leading the group to the other side of the encampment. 

Romelle hung back, causing Allura stop and turn back to her with a worried expression. “Are you alright?” She asked, noticing the worried look on Romelle’s face.

“Do you think Keith will be alright?” She asked, concerned.

“I’m sure he will be.” Allura replied. “We can go visit him later, if you’d like?” she said, putting her hand gently on Romelle’s shoulder. 

“Alright, that would be nice.” Romelle replied, nodding.

Allura smiled. “Come on, let's go see if we can help with the teleduv.” she said, leading Romelle to where the others had headed.

\----

A few vargas later, everyone met back up in Keith's room as they waited for Ellia to make her rounds and update them on Keith's status. Pidge and Hunk filled Shiro, Lance and Krolia in on their wormhole situation.

“So as soon as Keith's better and the lions are recharged, we’ll be able to make a wormhole and fly straight to Earth?” Shiro asked, astounded. 

Pidge smiled. “Yep! Pretty much. Hunk and I still have a few tweaks we have to sort out, but we should be able to get it up and running in a few quintants!” she explained, excitedly. 

“We need the lions to be at full power to do this, so we’ll be monitoring their progress as well.” Hunk added. “They seem to be doing alright, although the red lion is still not responding.” he paused, and looked over to looking over to Lance. “Have you felt the red lion at all since we hooked it up to the Fornitonium?” 

Lance shook his head. “I can't feel red at all.” he replied, feeling sad that his lion wasn't operational yet. 

Pidge hummed in thought. “We’ll just have to keep monitoring it and see if anything changes, then.” 

Just then, the door opened and Ellia walked in. “Good evening all, let's see how Keith is progressing.” she said, walking straight over to the monitors.

Lance, Shiro and Krolia all looked on anxiously in their spots next to the pod.

Ellia frowned as she sifted through the notes on the screen. 

Shiro noticed her distressed look. “What's wrong?” he asked, concerned, his heart pounding in his chest. 

“It looks like the wound has become infected.” she explained, reading the results. “We will have to administer some antibiotics and monitor the situation carefully.” she said, typing the notes into the system.

“What's going to happen to him?” Lance asked meekly, staring down at Keith.

Ellia turned to look at the group, a solemn look on her face. “Your friend is very sick and weak. If the antibiotics don't clear up the infection, then I’m afraid he will most likely fall into a coma as his body tries to heal itself.” she replied honestly.

Everyone's face paled at the thought. 

Lance felt himself going numb, his senses beginning to blur. 

Shiro places his hand on Lance's shoulder to comfort him, feeling nauseous himself. 

Krolia bit her lip as tears began to well in her eyes. 

“I will be back to check on him again soon.” Ellia stated, before taking her leave. 

The room fell into silence. No one dared to make a noise as they stared at Keith sleeping in the pod. 

Lance couldn’t believe this was happening. This was all his fault. Keith was in that pod, in this condition, because he wasn’t aware of his surroundings and left himself vulnerable. Keith could die, and it was all his fault.

He started to feel lightheaded, and his vision and hearing blurred. Worried voices flickered in and out of his perception, but he couldn’t catch what anyone was saying as his vision faded to black.

\---

 

Bright lights were the first thing he saw, causing Lance to squint and groan against the assaulting light. He tried to raise an arm to block the light from his eyes, but he couldn’t move it very far.

“Lance!” Hunk called out from beside him. “Guys, Lance is awake!” his loud voice boomed beside Lance’s ear. 

Lance winced slightly at the sound, his senses still fuzzy. He looked down at his arm and blinked until everything came into focus. There were a few tubes hooked up to his wrist and elbow, probably the cause of his reduced range of motion. With a groan, he rolled his head to the other side to meet the sight of Allura, Pidge and Hunk hovering by his bedside.

“What happened?” he tried to ask, his voice barely coming out as a whisper.

Allura took his hand in her own. “You fainted. Ellia said it was caused by stress.” she explained softly.

Lance frowned in confusion. “How long was I out?” he asked.

Pidge and Hunk shared a concerned look. 

“It's been two quintants.” Pidge replied, looking grim. 

“We weren’t sure you were going to wake up! I was so worried.” Hunk rambled on.

“We all were.” Pidge agreed softly, and reached out to rub Lance’s knee soothingly.  
Lance barely heard them, still processing the fact he’d been asleep for two quintants. This couldn't have happened. He needed to stay by Keith's side. 

His eyes widened at the thought of Keith. “Keith?” he asked, looking around for an answer.

Hunk, Pidge and Allura shared a sad look. 

“He… He fell into a coma the night you passed out. Ellia says there's not much we can do now but wait.” Allura replied, her voice wavering. 

Lance shot upright into a sitting position, ignoring the protest all of his friends gave. He looked over to Pidge and Hunk for clarification, but needed nothing more than the looks on their faces to confirm the truth. 

“I need to see him.” he stated, trying to get up and out of bed.

Hunk grabbed his shoulders, stopping him from moving even an inch further. “Whoa dude, calm down. You still need to take it easy.” he said firmly.

Lance frowned at his best friend, wishing he would just understand. “I need to be by his side.” He argued, firmly standing his ground. 

Hunk looked over to Pidge and Allura for assistance.

“I’ll go find Ellia, maybe she can find a wheelchair or something.” Pidge offered as a compromise.

Lance just nodded in agreement, and laid back in bed for a few moments. He didn’t want Hunk to know, but fighting against him to get out of bed and to Keith had drained him of more energy than he cared to admit.

A few moments later, Pidge and Ellia returned. 

“You shouldn't be moving around yet.” Ellia stated firmly, walking over to the monitor. “You are still very weak from your whole ordeal.”

“I don't care. I want to see Keith.” Lance replied stubbornly.

Allura sighed and turned to Ellia. “Is there a way we can hook him up in Keith's room so he can still receive treatment?” she asked.

Ellia hummed, and levelled a look at Lance while she pondered the possibilities. After a few moments, she breathed out a sigh. “Alright.” she agreed reluctantly. “But, you must promise to still rest and don't exert yourself.” she told Lance. 

Lance nodded his head eagerly, wanting to get to Keith as soon as possible. 

“Lay back down and we’ll wheel you over there. Hunk, can you bring the monitor along, please?” Ellia instructed.

Lance laid back down as he was told, as Ellia and Hunk moved him to Keith's room. 

The short walk from his room to Keith’s was silent, but Lance could tell everyone’s eyes were on him as they walked. But he didn’t care. He had to get back to Keith’s side.

Shiro and Krolia looked up in shock as Lance came rolling in. 

“Lance! You’re awake!” Shiro exclaimed happily, making his way over to the other boy. 

“Sorry for the intrusion, but Lance wouldn't settle down until he came in here.” Ellia explained. 

“It's no problem, it will just make it easier to keep an eye on them both.” Shiro replied, placing his hand on Lance's shoulder. 

Lance looked up at Shiro and over to Krolia. He couldn’t help but notice that they both looked exhausted, red rimmed eyes highlighted with black bags and pale skin. It looked like neither of them had really gotten any sleep the past few quintants.

“Now that Lance is awake, Pidge and I have to go work on the red lion some more.” Hunk stated, turning to Lance. “Will you be alright for awhile?”

Lance nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine now. Thanks.” He replied with a small smile. 

“Alright. Call us if you need anything.” Hunk said, giving Lance a hug before leaving with Pidge and Allura.

Once they were alone, Lance turned to Shiro and Krolia. “You guys need to get some sleep.”

Shiro lifted his hand to cover a yawn at the mention of sleep. “We’re fine.” he assured somewhat weakly. 

Lance gave him a deadpanned expression. “You guys look like zombies, you need to rest. Do you wanna end up like me?” he motioned to his hospital bed and monitor that he was hooked up to. 

Krolia gave Keith a quick glance, before returning to look at Lance. “You have a point. I don't think Keith would want all of us getting sick because of him.” she replied, walking up to Shiro. “We should try and get a few vargas of sleep.” 

Shiro nodded tiredly. “Alright, just a few.” He turned to Lance. “Let us know if anything changes, and make sure you look after yourself as well.” he commanded, worried about Lance’s condition. 

Lance smiled. “I promise.” he replied, happy they were listening to his advice. 

Shiro and Krolia nodded, and quietly left the room. 

Once Lance was alone, he made his way back to Keith's side. He peered down at his friend, watching his chest rise and fall with each ragged breath. He placed his hand on the pod, feeling the cool glass beneath his palm and fingers. 

“I don’t know if you can hear me… But, I wanted to say that I’m sorry.” Lance spoke to Keith softly, looking over at his face. “It should be me lying in this pod right now, not you. I don’t know why you took that hit for me, but I’m so sorry for not seeing that sentry.” 

Tears began to well in Lance’s eyes as he spoke. “I’m also sorry for pushing you away… I just… I didn’t know how to deal with the fact that I like you… And I mean really like you.” Lance breathed out a wet chuckle at the confession. “Shiro seems to think I’ve liked you for a while now… And I guess that makes sense because feelings this strong just don’t just,  appear from nowhere. But, it’s weird to think that I’ve liked you all this time and didn’t even realise it, y’know?” he rambled, thinking out loud. 

“I don’t know how you feel, or if it’s even possible to think you might like me back…” Lance whispered. He knew that realistically, Keith couldn’t hear him, but finally getting everything off of his chest felt good. His fist had clenched without realizing it, and he banged it against the glass between them, frustrated, but quickly breathed out his frustration and letting his fist rest against the surface. “But none of that matters to me right now. I just need you to wake up. Please Keith….” he sobbed out, resting his head against the pod as he let his tears flow freely. “Please.”

 

\---

 

Keith woke up to darkness all around him. He wandered around for what seemed like quintants, but hadn’t come across anything or anyone, just endless darkness.

He sighed in frustration as he stopped walking. Was he dreaming again? This didn’t seem like any dream he had had before. He didn’t even remember going to sleep. “Hello?!” he called out, frowning when he got no response. 

He closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened. A burning sensation began to tingle the skin on his back, so he twisted around to feel what was causing it. His fingers made contact with rough, bubbly texture of bare skin. “What the…?” He mumbled aloud, and pulled his hand back up towards his face, shocked to see blood coating the tips of his fingers. It was a weird sensation… He didn’t feel any pain, just a slight burn tickling beneath his skin. The longer he focused on the spot on his back, memories began to flood back into his mind. Flashes of a battle, jumping back and forth through time and space, then of a sentry… And then, being shot. The last thing he saw was Lance, who he’d grabbed to push out of the way, and then… Nothing.

What happened to Lance after he was shot? Was someone able to take out the sentry before it took another shot? Were Shiro, Krolia and Coran alright? What was happening?

Keith grabbed his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes closed tightly as thoughts rushed through his mind. “Lance?!” Keith called out.

Suddenly, his mind cleared at the same time that a distinct roar of a lion washed over him. Keith looked up surprised. “Red?” he questioned. Why would the red lion be calling to him? Red was Lance’s lion now. He heard the roar again, louder, as the darkness began to fade around him. With a quick glance around, Keith saw the familiar beach unfold in front of him. Was the red lion the one giving him these dreams about Lance? 

“Lance?” Keith called out again, knowing he would show as soon as he thought of him. 

Sure enough, Lance appeared down by the shore, looking solemnly out at the waves. 

Keith ran up to him. “Lance!” he called out again, quick to drop down and sit next to him.

Lance glanced over at Keith with red eyes, fresh tears streaming down his face.

Keith was shocked to see him in such a way. He immediately reached out to brush the tears away. “What happened?” he asked, concerned.

Lance looked back out at the waves before answering. “I’m losing someone I care about, and there’s nothing I can do…”

Keith frowned at the response. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“He’s dying and it’s all my fault.” Lance continued sadly.

Keith was still confused. Who was dying? Did someone on the team get hurt? “It’s not your fault.” Keith automatically replied, without thinking. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew that whatever it was, wasn’t Lance’s fault. 

Suddenly the waves became still in front of them, like they were frozen in place. Keith stood up and frowned at the sudden change and walked over to the water's edge to have a look. As he stared down at the still water, something beginning to appear just below the waves. He squinted and stepped closer, trying to make out the image. It was a white room… Perhaps a hospital room? There was a pod in the middle and someone leaning over it with their forehead resting against it.

‘Please, Keith….’ The words whispered through Keith’s mind, making his jump back as if he had been electrocuted. That was Lance’s voice. Keith frowned and moved back over to the water, trying to get a better look. The image started to become clearer the longer he stared at it. The mop of brown hair must have been Lance, and he was hooked up to a machine. Did he get hurt? The thought made a cold shiver run down Keith’s spine. 

He tried to focus on the pod, but the surface was reflecting a light, making it difficult to see through. He could hear Lance crying as he tried to say something around a sob, perhaps Keith’s name? When it repeated again, Keith’s assumption was proved correct, but it still sent a shiver down his spine. Was he the one in the pod?

Keith whirled around to Dream Lance with wide eyes. “Lance… Am I the one dying?”

Dream Lance didn’t say anything as he broke down into sobs, bringing his knees up to bury his head into. Keith looked back at the water and watched as this Lance sobbed as well.  
‘Keith… I need you to wake up…’ Real Lance sobbed, and Keith felt a strong push of energy at his words. He knew what he had to do. When the pull came, Keith didn’t fight it.

“Lance, I will come back to you!” he called out as he allowed the energy to pull him away. Everything faded away swiftly, and suddenly, he was sucking in a deep gasp of air.

His eyes flashed open as air flooded his lungs, and he could only stare at the glass pod in front of him while he gathered his bearings. Distantly, he could hear a beeping from just outside the glass, and Lance’s sobs.

The pod lid began to open, startling Lance who had been leaning on it. Lance looked down in shock to see Keith’s eyes open, and looking up right back at him.

“Keith!” Lance yelled, a wide smile making its way across his face. “Oh my gosh, you’re awake.” he rambled out, disbelieving.

Keith smiled softly up at him. “Yeah, I’m back.” he replied, his voice rough and scratchy. He lifted his hand slowly to try and reach out to Lance, but his body felt heavy and lethargic so he couldn’t lift it up very high.

Lance saw his attempt and gently took Keith’s hand between his, giving it a soft squeeze. 

They shared a quiet moment together before the door burst open and the entire team came crashing in. 

“Keith!” Krolia yelled, running to his side, tears running down her cheeks.

Shiro came up to his other side, next to Lance and smiled warmly down at him. “You really gave us a scare. Don’t do anything like that again alright.” He scolded lightly, relieved that Keith was alright.

Keith gave out a small chuckle as his mum ran her fingers through his hair tenderly. “I won’t.” He replied softly, looking over at the team. Everyone was crying but they were all smiling. “How did you know I was awake?” he asked curiously.

“It was the weirdest thing!” Hunk exclaimed, his eyes wide in amazement.

“Hunk and I were working on the red lion, because it hasn’t been responsive, even though it was being powered by the Fornitonium. We stepped away for a moment to have a break and the next thing it was roaring, like it was calling out to someone.” Pidge explained quickly in her excitement. 

“Right!” Hunk agreed. “Then the other lions began to roar as well, like they were trying to tell us something, so we figured it had to be about you. So, we rushed over here and look! You’re awake!”

“Huh…” Keith replied, speechless. He was still confused as to why the red lion was still tied to him, and why it gave him the dreams about Lance. Keith glanced over to said man curiously. Lance hadn’t mentioned any weird dreams to him, so he wondered if dream Lance was actually Lance, or simply some sort of manifestation of him that the red lion was projecting. Either way, he still didn’t know what he was supposed to do about the dreams. 

Ellia walked into the room interrupting his thoughts. She stared at him startled to see that he was awake. “Hello there Keith. I am Ellia. I’ve been in charge of your progress since you were brought here.” She introduced herself, walking over to the monitor to look at his status. “Well I am impressed.” She stated, combing through the data. “You’re vitals are stabilizing, and you’ve finally started recovering. I’ve never seen anyone recover so quickly, especially one in a coma.” 

“I was in a coma?” Keith cut in, surprised.

“So he’s going to be alright?” Lance interjected hopefully, still holding onto Keith’s hand.  
Everyone looked over at Ellia, anxiously awaiting her answer.

Ellia turned around and smiled. “Looks like he’ll make a full recovery.”

Everyone cheered and hugged about the happy news. Shiro pulled Lance into a one armed embrace.

Ellia raised her hand to quiet everyone down. She pointed to Lance with a stern look. “You need to still be resting.” she scolded. “Your body is still recovering from exhaustion.” 

Keith looked up at Lance and frowned. “Exhaustion?”

Ellia moved to point to Keith, interrupting his thoughts. “And you. You shouldn’t even be awake, let alone standing, so you need to rest so you don’t relapse.” She instructed, making both men cower at the firmness of her voice.  

They both nodded compliently, Lance sitting back in the chair behind him.

Ellia placed her hands on her hips with a nod. “Good.” she replied, looking around at the group. “I will be back in a few vargas to check on them both. Please don’t let them exert themselves.” she instructed before leaving the room.

Everyone turned back to Keith. 

“We are so relieved that you’re alright.” Allura said, smiling at him.

“You gave us quite a scare, that’s for sure.” Coran commented. “Luckily Lance was there though. He was able to do something Shiro called ‘CPR’ to help you breathe again. Was quite a spectacle.” he rambled.

Keith looked over at Lance, his cheeks dusted with a faint blush. “Uhh… CPR?” The idea of Lance’s lips on his own, even to save his life, made his heart flutter. 

Lance refused to make eye contact, his own cheeks flushed red. “You weren’t breathing, a-and I was the only one who could do it.” he explained quickly, embarrassed. 

“Coran is right.” Shiro piped in. “If Lance hadn’t of reacted so quickly, things could have turned out very differently.” he commented, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

Keith smiled in return. “Thanks Lance. Guess I owe you my life.” he replied.

Lance looked up at him and pouted. “Don’t pull that, mister. You wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t of taken that shot for me.” he retorted.  
   
Krolia looked between the two of them, sensing an argument coming on. “How about you just call it even, then.” she said, trying to come up with a compromise to quickly diffuse the situation. “You’re both alive, so that’s all that matters.”

“Agreed. No sense in arguing over it.” Allura added. “You both just need to focus on getting better so we can leave for Earth.”

“How long until you can get the wormhole working?” Shiro asked.

Keith leaned back in the pod with wide eyes. Wormhole? Since when did they have the tools to make a wormhole? Wasn’t their only method of making one destroyed? “Uh…” He said, pulling everyone’s gazes over to him again, “We have a wormhole?”

“The rebels have been working with the Olkari and have come up with a way to produce wormholes on a smaller scale.” Pidge began to explain. “Using the crystal the castle left behind, along with the lions, Allura is going to help power the teleduv the rebels have here.” she concluded before turning her attention to Shiro. “Hunk and I have finished with our adjustments, and the lions are nearly finished re-charging. I’d say everything will be ready to go by tomorrow.”

“That's good to hear. So all we need to wait for is Keith to be well enough to be discharged.” Shiro replied. “We should let these two get some rest.” he added, looking down at Keith. “If you need anything, just buzz and we’ll come by, alright?” 

Keith nodded. “Thanks Shiro.”

Krolia leant down to kiss Keith on his forehead, just like she’d done when he was a baby. “Get well, my son.” She murmured against his forehead, and pulled away with a soft smile.

Keith returned the smile, albeit a tired one. “Will do, mum.”

Krolia felt tears well in her eyes in happiness at being called ‘mum’ for the first time. She knelt back down and gave him another kiss on the forehead before moving back to let the others say their goodbye’s.

Once everyone had left the room, Lance stumbled back to his own bed on the other side of the room, laying down with his back towards Keith.

They laid in silence for about half a varga before Keith couldn’t take it anymore. He had to know if Lance was having the same strange dreams.

“Hey, Lance?” he called out quietly.

“Hmmm?” Lance replied.

Keith paused for a moment, regretting his decision. Should he ask about the dreams? Would it make it weird? “Uhh… Have you been having any strange recurring dreams lately?”

Lance frowned at the odd question. “No? Why do you ask?” he asked, curious.

Keith frowned. So Dream Lance and Real Lance weren’t the same. “No reason.” he replied quickly, not wanting Lance to dwell on it. 

Lance didn’t reply, letting the subject drop. 

“Thanks…” Keith murmured quietly. 

Lance shifted so he could look over at Keith. “For what?” he asked confused.

“Bringing me back to life… I didn’t think the shot would be fatal.” Keith replied, slightly shaken by the fact that he had died, even if it was only for a moment. 

“Of course I would. I wasn’t gonna let you die that easily, Mullet.” Lance replied quickly, similarly to the ways they used to banter. It was quiet between them for a few moments, until Lance rolled completely onto his other side so he could look at Keith more easily. “Why did you take that shot for me?” 

Keith was silent for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say. “To be honest… I didn’t even think about myself. When I saw that sentry aiming at you, all I could think about was protecting you.” he replied sincerely. 

Lance turned back around, huddling himself in his blanket to hide his fierce blush caused by Keith’s confession. He had felt the same way when he had pushed Allura and the blue lion out of the way of that exploding plate back on that shield planet. It made his heart skip a beat to know Keith had risked his own life for him. “Thanks.” he murmured back, a smile on his face. 

Keith smiled, hearing the smile in Lance’s voice plain as day. “Night, Lance.”

“G’night, Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No cliffhanger this time! YAYS, just some cute fluff lol
> 
>  
> 
> Feel free to come talk Voltron or Klance with me on tumblr [@forsakenangel88](http://forsakenangel88.tumblr.com/) or twitter [@ForsakeAngel88](https://twitter.com/ForsakeAngel88)


	7. Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team make it back to Earth and are thrown a welcome home party, only there's not much time to celebrate with the threat of an attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOT We are at the end!! 
> 
> Big shout out to [@winter-and-little-brunettes](http://winter-and-little-brunettes.tumblr.com/) who helped co write and edit this chapter so we could get it up in time before S7 later today! I am so excited that we got it done and there are some really cute fluff moments that just make me fangirl so I hope you guys like it as well!

After a few more days in bed, Keith was cleared by Ellia to leave bed rest and join up with the rest of the team. It was finally time to attempt to wormhole to Earth.

“Remember, do not do any excessive exercise or exert yourself in any way for at least another week.” Ellia lectured as she stood in front of Keith, next to the lions. “I may have discharged you early, but that doesn't mean you're completely healed.”

Keith nodded, and reached back to rub his hand lightly over the still healing injury. It still prevented him from twisting or bending without pain, reminding him every time that he moved too quickly that he wasn’t fully healed. Ellia had given him some bandages and clean antiseptic pads to keep his wound covered while it healed, and he planned to make full use of them. “I will. Thank you for everything.” he replied, giving her a gentle smile in appreciation for all her help.

“Don't worry. I’ll make sure he takes it easy.” Shiro walked up to them and put his hand on Keith's shoulder. “Come on, Matt has sent a message ahead to Sam to let him know we are on our way.” he said, motioning to the others who were packing up to leave. “Matt and some of the rebels will be coming with us.”

“Alright.” he replied, before turning back to Ellia. “Maybe we’ll meet again.” he said, extending his hand out to shake.

“Hopefully in better condition.” she chuckled, shaking his hand. 

Keith laughed, letting go of her hand. “See you.” he said, before walking towards the black lion with Shiro. 

 

Once everyone was in their lions and powered up, Matt gave the rebels staying behind the signal to start up the teleduv.

“Alright guys, let's form Voltron and get back home!” Keith called out, flying his lion up in formation, followed by the others to form Voltron.

Everyone hushed while Allura closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts. She had a rough idea of how to do what needed to be done, but actually executing it was… Well, not as set in stone. She’d always just, known what to do before. But she was determined that they could succeed, if they worked together.

“Okay, I need everyone to focus their energies together.” Allura instructed after a while, and closed her eyes. “Everyone, close your eyes, and focus on your individual lion’s power. Once you do that, focus on Voltron’s as a whole.”

As Lance focused on his own lion at Allura’s request, he could feel the others doing the same. It was an odd feeling, having something similar to your own thoughts and feelings mirrored by another, but slightly different. It was almost like a ghost hand reaching out to touch. But not in a bad way.

“Lance, focus.” Pidge scolded softly. “I’m not sure why you’re thinking about ghosts, but you’re thinking about it too hard.”

“Sorry.” He swiftly apologized, and focused back on the task at hand.

“What’s a ‘ghost’?” Coran’s voice piped up, but Lance ignored it.

Moments later, everyone was doing as Allura requested, and Voltron was bathed in quintessence, similarly to how it was back on Naxzela. Then, the crystal started to glow with the same bright light. Allura brought the energies together and urged the charge towards the teleduv.

Within moments, the teleduv created a small, but quickly expanding wormhole.

“Woah!” Hunk exclaimed. “I can’t believe that worked!”

“Quickly!” Keith urged, “We gotta get through before it closes!”

Voltron flew through the wormhole first, the rebel ships close behind, and managed to get through just before the entrance closed.

It looked the exact same as any other time they travelled by wormhole, the same blue and teal tunnel as always. The travel was as smooth too.

“It worked!” Pidge exclaimed excitedly. She and Hunk had some doubts about the amount of power that was required to form wormholes, so she was impressed that Allura had done it.

“Woohoo! Let's head home guys!” Hunk called out in anticipation. 

A moment later they were flying out the other side. Voltron came to a stop in front of the all too familiar planet.

Earth looked the exact same as it did when they left. It was still the same shade of blue, with beautiful blue clouds surrounding it. Lance could make out where Cuba would be, and quickly wiped at his eyes before any tears could slip down his cheeks.

“We’re home…” he whispered out in disbelief. He had wanted to go home for so long now that this almost seemed like a dream. 

“I can’t believe we’re back.” Hunk said, tears welling in his eyes at the thought of seeing his family again.

“It looks like a beautiful planet. I’m excited to see it.” Allura said softly, watching as the white clouds floated over the surface of the blue planet.

“Indeed. I am looking forward to learning your customs.” Coran added, excitedly. 

Keith took a breath, reveling in the fact that they were about to step foot on their home planet again after so long. “Well, what are we waiting for?” 

“Let’s head down to the Garrison. Sam will be there to meet us.” Shiro instructed through the black lion’s comms.

They flew Voltron down through Earth's atmosphere, towards the Galaxy Garrison. As they approached, they saw Sam waving at them in an empty field off to the side of the main buildings. They disbanded Voltron and flew down to land in front of Sam and the other Garrison officers, the rebel ships landing behind the lions. 

Everyone hopped out of their lions and walked up to the group of officers, Shiro in the lead.

Sam walked up ahead to greet them.

“It’s good to see you all again.” Sam greeted with a smile.

Pidge ran up and gave her dad a hug. “It’s good to be home, dad.” 

Iverson walked up to the group with his usual sneer. “Well, I never expected the four of you to accomplish anything.” he commented dryly, surprised to see Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge in paladin armor. 

“You are looking at the defenders of the universe.” Keith snapped, and crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed by Iverson’s tone. Blue, who was in his usual place beside Keith, snarled at Iverson in distaste.

“That’s right.” Shiro cut in, not wanting any conflict between the group. “We’ve defeated many threats and saved many planets and civilizations while we’ve been away, sir, but we need your help to rebuild an alien castle so we can defend our planet, as well.” he explained.

“Matt filled us in on what’s happened.” Sam replied. “We’ve already begun bringing in resources to rebuild.” 

Sam was interrupted by a group of people at the fence line calling out to Lance and Hunk loudly. 

Everyone looked over to see what the commotion was. 

“Mum?” Lance and Hunk said at the said time, seeing their families waiting anxiously for them.

“I contacted everyone’s families to let them know you were on your way.” Sam smiled. “I’ll take the rest of you through to our facility so we can get started.” he instructed.

Lance and Hunk rushed off to see their families as the rest of the team and rebels followed Sam into the facility. 

As soon as Lance and Hunk were out the gate they were pulled into several hugs by every one of their family members. 

“Oh my gosh, we were so worried!” Veronica yelled, squeezing her younger brother in her arms. “Mum and Dad never stopped searching.” she sobbed. He felt Luis and Marco join the hug as well, completely forgoing the usual back slaps. God, he missed them all so much.

“I’m so sorry.” Lance whispered, and squeezed his sister as tight as he dared. He knew he had missed her, his entire family, but it wasn’t until he was surrounded by them, smelling his sister’s lavender shampoo and his brother’s cologne, that the weight on his chest lifted a little.

As soon as his siblings let go, their mum raised her arms up for Lance to rush into her embrace with a choked sob. He was trying so hard not to cry, but as soon as he was wrapped up in his mother’s arms again, everything fell away. It was like he was a little kid again, getting comfort for a scraped knee, rather than finally returning to Earth after disappearing for who-knows-how long.

He felt his dad’s arms wrap around them both as he apologized again and again for leaving without saying goodbye. “I-I never meant to.” he sobbed out. “I want-wanted to say ‘bye.”

“Shh, baby, it’s okay.” she soothed, pressing kisses into his hairline. “We know, we know. We love you, what’s important is that you’re safe.”

“Exactly.” His father agreed. “You’re here now.”

“We’re so happy you have come home safely.” His mum said softly, tears running down her face. 

“Where have you been?” His dad asked.

“Space.” Lance replied as he pulled back and wiped his eyes. He gestured back vaguely to the lions with a watery smile.“I fly the red one, and together with my team, we can form a bigger robot-man-thing called Voltron, and defend the universe from threats.” he explained.

“Whoa!! You fly one of those?” Marco exclaimed in amazement as they all looked at the giant mechanical beasts.

“We knew you’d get to space one day, but we had no idea this would be how it happened.” Luis remarked. “We’re so proud of you Lance.” he said, and pulled his baby brother into a tight one armed hug. 

Lance smiled as more tears fell from his eyes. He had missed his family so much. And they still loved him, were proud of him, even though he left Earth without a word. The feeling made his chest feel warm.

“Oh!” Lance exclaimed, and reached for his mother’s hand. “I nearly forgot, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

She followed Lance without a word, a soft smile on her lips. The rest of his family followed behind with various faces of confusion.

Lance led his family to the red lion, who crouched on her own as they approached. “Woah!” Veronica exclaimed. “It can do that?”

“Yeah. They’re, uh… Well, they’re sentient, to an extent.” Lance explained. “They are controlled by pilots, but when we’re in danger or whatever, they can move on their own. Red here tends to move around a lot, she’s the impulsive lion.” 

“That’s… Incredible.” his father whispered reverently. “How do they do that?”

Lance chuckled, and waited for red to open up. “Well, that’s a lot of complex science things I don’t understand. Pidge, or Hunk can explain it, but I can’t. Wait here!” he quickly ran into the red lion to retrieve who he was looking for.

His family waited anxiously for him to return, not quite sure what to make of the massive mechanical sentient space lion. A few moments later, Lance emerged with a bored Kaltenecker in tow.

“Is that… A cow?” Veronica questioned. “Like, a regular Earth cow?”

“Mhmm! We got her at a space mall on the other side of the galaxy!” Lance exclaimed, and patted her shoulder. “At an Earth store!”

Marco cocked his head, his gaze glued to the cow. “There’s an Earth store in outer space? On the other side of the galaxy?”

“Aliens really do abduct cows.” Luis whispered incredulously.

“This is Kaltenecker!” Lance introduced. “She’s been with us for a while now, and has been a part of our family of misfits in space. But, I was wondering if she could go home with you guys?”

His parents shared a look, and his father shrugged. His mother turned back to him with a smile. “Of course we can take her home for you. Then, she’ll be an incentive for you to come home and visit us, honey.”

Lance’s shoulders drooped, and he leapt forwards to wrap his parents up in another hug. “I don’t need Kaltenecker as incentive to come home, mum.” he whispered. “You guys are the reason I’ll come home.”

Veronica, Marco and Luis joined in on the hug, all making sure to be touching Lance somewhere. “When?” Veronica asked.

Lance sighed, and shook his head. “I… I’m not sure. There’s still some work we have to do before we decide what happens next.” He said vaguely, not wanting to worry his family. “But, I promise as soon as I know, you’ll know.”

“Okay, son.” his father said. “We’ll expect you home to visit as soon as you can.”

Hunk came up to Lance and his family with a watery smile. “Hey man, we should get back to the others. We need to get the castle up and running as soon as we can.” he said, trying not to reveal too much information. The less their families knew of the danger, the better.

Lance stepped out of the family embrace and nodded. He stepped back until he was beside Hunk, and offered his family one last smile. “We’ll catch up soon, okay?”

“We’ll see you tonight.” Veronica replied. “The Garrison is throwing a welcome home party in honor of you guys.” she explained.

Lance and Hunk looked over at each other in shock. They didn’t think that the Garrison would do something like that, especially not for them. 

“Alright! We’ll see you later then!” Lance said to his family, and gave a wave before turning to leave with Hunk.

 

\----

 

The others were in the middle of a discussion with Sam and other Garrison scientists, engineers and technicians when Lance and Hunk met back up with them.

Lance walked up beside Keith as Hunk walked up to Pidge and Matt to help.

“What’s happening?” Lance whispered, leaning into Keith so not to disturb the discussion. 

Keith looked over, he had a bored, confused and slightly overwhelmed look on his face. “Honestly, I have no idea?” he whispered back. “They’re talking science stuff to rebuild the castle.”

Lance nodded in understanding. This was a Hunk and Pidge thing, so he’d have no idea what was going on either, even if he’d been there from the beginning.

“So, how long will it take to build?” Shiro asked.

Sam looked over to him. “With all the Garrison staff, Matt, Pidge, Hunk, Coran, Allura and myself working on it, we should be able to get it done in a couple of days if everything goes well.” he replied, looking over to Matt. “Matt brought some amazing tech with him and the rebels, so that will accelerate the build time tremendously.”

Matt smiled at his dad and looked over to Shiro. “Right. But, before we get started on that, Shiro, come with me. Dad has something amazing to show you.” He said with a clap and a mischievous smile, walking over to grab Shiro by his arm and led him away from the group. Shiro looked surprised, but followed Matt without resistance.

Everyone looked to Sam for confirmation as to what was going on. Sam just smiled at them. “Don’t worry about him.” He assured. “You’ll all see him later tonight. For now though… Ladies, if you would follow my lovely wife Colleen, we’ve organised some nice outfits for you for the party tonight.” He motioned to Colleen, who stood next to him with a polite smile on her face. 

Allura, Romelle and Krolia all glanced over at each other before walking over to her with Pidge. “Alright ladies, let's go have some fun.” she said excitedly as she led them out of the lab.

Lance, Keith, Hunk and Coran all looked at each over at each other. 

Sam chuckled. “Don’t worry, we have some outfits for you guys as well. Follow me.” he instructed, walking to another door on the other side of the room and leading them to a faculty office. 

As he opened the door they saw four very similar outfits hanging along the opposite wall. 

“You’re welcome to get ready here. The party will be in the main hall, but doesn’t start till a bit later tonight. There are some refreshments in the fridge so help yourself and relax until the party.” Sam said, as he left the room.

Lance walked up to the outfit that had his name on it to check it out and frowned. The quality of the outfit was like nothing he’d ever seen before. It must have cost a fortune. He looked over to the others who had also walked up to their outfits. “These look crazy expensive.” he commented. 

Hunk nodded slightly and stroked the fabric of the shoulder lightly. “I can’t believe they’d spend so much on us. They must really think we’re important.” 

“We are important.” Keith replied, looking over at his friends. “We may have been screw ups and they might not have had faith in us before we left, but we’ve proven just how valuable we are.” he stated firmly.

“Number four is right.” Coran added, twisting his mustache. “Without you, Zarkon and Lotor would still be terrorizing the universe.” 

Lance’s eyes widened at Keith and Coran’s statements and looked back at the outfit in front of him. He didn’t feel worthy of such valuable gifts, but he had no choice but to accept. This was for the team, and to promote Voltron as a whole. They had to show that they were capable to defend their own planet. Putting on a large smile, Lance took the outfit from the hanger and looked over to the others. “Well, what are we waiting for?” 

Hunk smiled, excitedly and grabbed his. 

Coran and Keith took theirs as well. 

Half an hour later the four men were dressed and ready to go. Keith, Hunk and Lance’s outfits consisted of black dress pants, with red, yellow and blue satin long sleeved shirts. Coran’s pants were a navy blue and he had a pale blue satin button-up shirt with the sleeves evenly rolled up his forearms. 

Lance rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, while Hunk rolled his to half way up his forearms, and Keith left his long.

Lance was feeling nervous. They’d been sitting in the office for a few hours now, just waiting for the time to pass. The others were talking amongst themselves as Coran checked himself out in the mirror that was on side of the wall. The conversation faded out as Lance let his mind wonder. He knew as soon as they stepped out into that hall, there would be questions and so many people staring at them. It would only be a matter of time before everyone realized how much of a failure he was compared to the rest of the team. He didn’t deserve to be on the team. He knew that, and soon, the rest of the world would know that too. Even though he knew it was a fact, he was terrified of his family finding out how much of a failure their son, their brother, was. He knew he would be letting them down. They all thought he was some super galactic hero, doing amazing things and saving the universe with his amazingly talented team… But he was just a fake, a joke. A phony who didn’t contribute anything to his team.

He began to absentmindedly pick at his nails while he stared at the wall in front of him unseeingly. 

“I guess we should head to the hall.” Hunk said, breaking Lance’s train of thoughts. 

Coran looked over the mirror. “Oh, I’m excited to see how you Earthlings have parties.” he said excitedly, walking over to the group with a bounce in his step.

“Oh my gosh, the spread is going to be amazing!” Hunk exclaimed, grabbing Coran’s arm to drag him out of the room. “We have the best food here on Earth, no more of that food goo!” he rambled off. 

Keith walked up to Lance who hadn’t moved from his spot yet. “You ready?” he asked lightly.

Lance looked up, shoving his hands in his pockets and gave Keith his best smile as he stood up. “Yeah, let’s do this.” he replied as enthusiastically as he could.

Keith nodded as they started down the corridor towards the hall.

The halls were exactly like they remembered them, that off white that seemed more surgical than comforting. The floor was so clean that Lance could nearly see his reflection as they walked.

They walked in silence for while before Keith spoke up again. “Are you alright? You seem a bit anxious.” he commented.

Lance’s eyes widened for a moment before looking over to Keith, who he noticed was keeping his distance. “Yeah, just nerves, I guess. It’s so surreal that we’re back here.” he replied, looking at all the rooms that came off of the corridor. 

Keith hummed and nodded slightly. “I never thought I’d be back here.” he commented thoughtfully. 

Lance turned back around to glance at Keith and gave him a small soft smile. “Brings back memories, right?” he asked slyly, and bumped his hip against Keith’s as they walked.

Keith smirked. “Yeah, no kidding. I remember this one kid, used to go around calling himself ‘the tailor’. He was pretty annoying.” 

Lance glared at Keith, giving him a playful shove with his shoulder. “Oh, really? Well, I remember this one time, when we were in simulator class, this one kid, who was a total show off by the way, rammed me and then got the entire class detention for not following direction.” he chuckled. 

Keith laughed, shoving Lance back playfully. “We’ve really come a long way, haven’t we?” he replied, looking softly over at Lance.

Lance smiled back. “Yeah... Who knew we’d go to space and save the universe a bunch of times, right?” 

“That’s not what I meant.” Keith stopped in his tracks, causing Lance to stop and turn to look back at him. “Lance, about what I said in the hospital…” Keith paused looking up into Lance’s eyes, trying to read his expression.. “The reason why I took that shot for-” 

“Guys, come on! The party has already started!” Hunk interrupted from down the hall. He waved them over with a wide smile on his face.

Keith sighed and turned to Hunk. “Coming.” he called back as he began to walk down the path again.

Lance frowned and grabbed a hold of his wrist. “Wait… What were you gonna say?” he asked, his heart fluttering in his chest.

Keith smiled slightly at him. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s get going before the others come looking for us.” he replied, dragging Lance along with him. 

Once they entered the hall, they were ushered to the side where Matt, Sam and Colleen were. Lance noticed that everyone was already there. Pidge was wearing a green satin mid length dress with long sleeves, her hair pulled back into small pigtails. Allura was in a pastel pink halterneck dress that hugged her figure nicely, flowing out at her thighs, her hair tied up in a messy bun, wisps falling out over her shoulders and back. Romelle was in a pale blue off-the-shoulder dress that wrapped around the middle with a ribbon, with matching blue ribbons in her hair. Krolia was in some black suit pants with a mushroom purple satin dress shirt. Everyone looked so lovely that Lance couldn’t keep the smile off of his face if he tried.

“Where’s Shiro?” Keith asked, looking around.

Matt grinned and pointed to the door behind them. 

Shiro walked out in the same suit all the paladins were wearing, his shirt was purple and rolled up to his elbows. He smiled as he walked up to the group and waved to them with his new right hand.

“Whoa! They gave you a new arm!” Lance yelled, grabbing it to have a look. He turned it about, looking at it from all angles. “This looks amazing!” he said in awe at the new tech.

Keith, Allura, Romelle, Krolia and Coran all hovered around Shiro, checking out his new arm.

“Did it hurt?” Romelle asked curiously.

Shiro shook his head. “No, they put me under. The procedure didn’t take long at all.” he replied, looking over to Sam and Colleen. “Things have certainly improved since we were here last. I’m impressed.”

“Well, the Olkari taught me a lot while I was on Olkarion, and Matt and the rebels have been sending us data since I left you guys, so we’ve been able to incorporate a lot of new technology here.” Sam explained.

“We’re glad that the arm was a good fit. You’re body accepted it with no issue.” Colleen added. 

“It’s really nice, thank you guys.” Shiro smiled, clenching and unclenching his fist. 

They continued to chat away, eventually being split up by various other groups of people. Lance and Hunk spent a fair bit of time with families. Pidge and Matt hung out with Sam and Colleen, catching up. Shiro and Keith were teaching Allura, Coran, Krolia and Romelle about Earth party food and dances, a few other cadets and instructors came up to them to ask about their cultures and what it was like in space. 

Tired of just standing around, Allura and Romelle dragged them all out onto the dance floor wanting to experience the dancing for themselves. Coran excitedly joined them as Krolia, Shiro and Keith reluctantly followed. It was a mess of bad, untimed moves, limbs flying everywhere as they all laughed and had fun. Pidge and Matt soon joined the craziness, laughing and giggling at Coran’s crazy dance moves. 

“I’m going to go get a drink.” Shiro said about an hour later, leaving the group to find the drink table. As he took a sip from his drink he noticed Lance standing off to the side watching the others dance, so he made his way over to him. “Hey.”

Lance looked over to Shiro and smiled. “Hey. Saw you dancing over there. You got some good moves.” he chuckled, sarcastically.

“Dancing is definitely not my forte.” Shiro laughed. “Why are you standing over here by yourself? Why don’t you go join everyone?” he motioned over to the others. 

Hunk had joined them and they had paired off, dancing in pairs to a slower song. Hunk was dancing with Romelle, Coran with Krolia, Pidge with Matt and Keith with Allura. Lance smiled sadly at the group. As much as he yearned to be with them, he didn’t want to break up the happy group. “Nah. I’m happy just watching.” he replied, not looking away from Keith. 

Shiro put his hand on Lance’s shoulder soothingly. “Have you spoken to him yet?” he asked, looking over at Keith.

Lance glanced over to the older man. “No.” he admitted lowly. “We haven’t had a chance, and to be honest, I have no idea how to even start that conversation.” He sighed in frustration. He was pretty sure Keith would reciprocate his feelings, but he wasn’t sure if that was even the problem. Did he even deserve to have Keith? Keith was amazing, talented, kind, determined and passionate. He deserved someone who was equally amazing, which he clearly wasn’t. 

Sighing again, Lance looked away from Keith and over at the crowd of people. He noticed a tall tanned man with blonde hair looking over at him and Shiro. “Hey Shiro, do you know who that hot guy is over there, checking you out?” he asked, looking between the two to them.

Shiro took a sip from his drink and looked away from the man across the room. “That’s Adam, he’s… my ex. Things didn’t end well between us.” he replied quietly.

“Whoa! Are you serious?!” Lance eyes widened in shock at Shiro’s confession as he looked back at Adam. “He looks like he wants to talk, why don’t you go over there?” Lance asked.

Shiro pouted, which Lance thought was adorable. He had to hide his smile by biting his lip. “I can’t just go over there.” Shiro argued, and swiftly drowned the rest of his drink with a slight grimace. “We had an argument right before I left for Kerberos. He probably hates me.” he explained, and tried to hide his blushing face behind his empty cup. 

Lance laughed, not being able to contain it any longer. “Shiro, what is the worst that could happen? The guy genuinely looks like he wants to catch up.” Lance started to nudge Shiro towards the other side of the room. “Go, man.” 

Shiro turned to glare at Lance, but continued to walk over to Adam on his own anyway. 

Lance just smiled as he watched him go. 

\--- 

 

Keith and Allura had been dancing together for a while now as the others remained in their pairs. Allura noticed that Keith kept looking to the side, distracted by something, so she turned to look at what it was. Upon seeing Lance, she smiled warmly and turned back to Keith. “You should go ask him to dance.” 

“Who?”

She raised a brow at him. “You know who.”

Keith’s eyes widened at being caught. “I, uh… Why would I do that?” he asked, flustered, and tried to look anywhere but Allura or Lance.

Allura chuckled fondly. “You’re obviously distracted by him, so why are you so hesitant?” she asked curiously.

Keith pouted, not really wanting to discuss this with Allura of all people. Where was Shiro when he needed him? Keith scanned the room for the older male, finding him talking to a familiar instructor. Adam. Keith’s eyes widened in surprise. He knew how the two of them had broken things off before Shiro left, so he wasn’t expecting them to be on talking terms.

“Keith?” Allura interrupted his thoughts, bringing his attention back to her. 

“Oh, sorry.” he said, shaking his head. “Uh... Lance and I are in a weird place right now.” he tried to explain vaguely. “I think it’s best for me to give him some space.” All his confidence from before had disappeared. 

 

Allura hummed, looking back towards Lance making eye contact with him for a moment, before he, too, looked away. “You know…” she turned back to face Keith with a mischievous smile. “I think he may want to dance with you as well.” 

Keith snapped his head up, giving her a curious look. “What makes you say that?” he asked, trying not to sound too eager.

Allura smiled knowingly. “Just the fact that he keeps looking over here.”

Keith frowned slightly. “He’s probably looking at you. You do look very beautiful tonight, princess.”

“For someone who is a quick thinker, you can be quite dense sometimes.” Allura giggled, teasingly as she stopped dancing. She spun him around and gave him a firm shove in Lance’s direction. “Go to him. He needs you.”

Keith squawked at the sudden change in plans, and cast her a look over his shoulder. “What?”

She simply gave him a fond smile, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know how you feel about him, Keith. I’ve known for a while, actually…” she said softly. “I’m glad that Lance has someone who cares for him like you do.” 

Keith was shocked to hear Allura’s confession, but gave her a small smile in response. “Thank you, princess.” he replied before finally heading over to Lance.

Lance watched anxiously as Keith walked over to him, giving him a small smile.

“Hey.” Keith said, smiling back. “What are you doing over here on your own?”

“Just watching you guys dance. It’s been quite entertaining.” Lance chuckled. 

Keith paled at the thought of Lance laughing at him. “Uh… Yeah. Well, Allura and Romelle wanted to dance and dragged us out onto the floor. I’ve never really danced before.” he replied sheepishly, and scratched the back of his head.

Lance laughed. “No kidding. I was making fun of Shiro earlier, but you have no idea what you're doing out there.” he teased playfully. 

Keith pouted, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “Oh, and you do?” he retorted. 

Lance grinned at him smugly. “Yep.”

Keith scoffed slightly and shook his head. After a moment, he gestured back to the dance floor with his head. “Then teach me.” he challenged.

Lance’s smile dropped for a moment as he thought about it. Was dancing with Keith really such a good idea? He was still scared to get to close, but at the same time he really wanted to spend more time with him.

Keith could see Lance’s hesitation, and held out one of his hands for him to take. “Come on. Show me.” he asked sincerely, giving Lance a reassuring smile. 

Lance glanced down at Keith’s hand and then back up to his eyes. He knew this was a battle he wasn't going to win. Sighing, he gave Keith a small smile and took his hand. “Alright, let’s go.” 

Keith smiled wider as he pulled Lance onto the dance floor. “Okay, what do I do?” he asked, stopping in front of Lance.

Lance laughed at Keith’s eagerness to learn, putting his hands on Keith’s to calm him down. “First thing is you need to relax, take a deep breath,” he instructed, taking a deep breath with Keith. “You are way too stiff and tense. Dancing requires your body to be relaxed and flowy, like this.” He demonstrated by moving his body to the rhythm of the music. 

Keith stared in awe as he watched Lance move, memorized by the way his body flowed to the beat of the music. “I… Uh… I dunno if I can do that…” he admitted sheepishly.

Lance smiled. “Sure you can.” He grabbed Keith’s hands and began moving them the music. “Just feel the music run through you and move to the beat.” he guided. 

Keith felt a little silly, but followed Lance’s instruction anyways. He tried to mimic Lance’s movement, albeit unsuccessfully. He sighed aloud in frustration. 

Lance chuckled at Keith’s impatience, and decided to try something else. “Come here.” he urged, and pulled Keith close, wrapping his arms around Keith’s neck. “Move with me.” he whispered, and couldn’t help but grin at Keith’s obvious floundering.

A blush stretched across Keith’s face at the sudden closeness, and kept his gaze low. He hesitantly put his hands on Lance’s hips, making sure to keep his touching to a minimum, and tried to move along with Lance.

“I don’t bite, y’know.” Lance laughed at Keith’s uneasiness. “Relax. Close your eyes, and just feel the movement.” he instructed again and closed his own eyes, hoping that would help make Keith feel more comfortable. 

Keith took a deep breath and let his eyes flutter closed. He allowed himself to relax into Lance, letting his hands settle more firmly onto Lance’s hips to ground himself.

They stayed like that for a while as song after song played, dancing silently, wrapped in each others arms as the rest of the world disappeared around them. 

When the song changed to a slow love song, Lance’s eyes snapped open as he came to the realisation of what they were doing. His heart thudded against his chest when he felt Keith’s breath brush across his lips, and he knew he shouldn’t be here. Not like this, not with Keith. He tried to step back, step out of Keith’s embrace, only to be stopped by a hand to the wrist.

He turned back and met Keith’s strong gaze, silently pleading for him to stay. When he made no move to either stay or leave, Keith spoke up. “Stay with me.” he whispered, pulling Lance closer, so their chests were pressed together. 

Lance let out a shuddery breath as he felt Keith’s breath against his lips again and nodded. Slowly, very slowly, like any sudden movements would break the tranquility of their moment, he brought his arms up to wrap around Keith’s shoulders again. Then, he let his head drop forwards until their noses brushed against each other.

Keith’s body was warm against his own, he could feel Keith’s light breath puff against his face and his heart beating in time with his. Being this close to Keith gave him a sense of calmness, like nothing else in the world mattered. The universe could pull apart at the seams, but as long as this man was right where he was, Lance would be able to handle it. His mind was finally at ease; no self doubt, no insecurities, just… Peace.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Keith felt at this moment, before remembering the conversation they almost had in the corridor on the way to the party hours ago.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance whispered quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Keith kept his eyes closed as they swayed to the music together. “Hmm?” he replied softly.

“What were you trying to tell me earlier, on the way here?” Lance asked hesitantly, worried about the answer.

Keith took a deep breath to prepare himself, knowing Lance would ask eventually. He opened his eyes to look at Lance before answering. It was now or never. “I was trying to say… That I took that shot for you because I couldn’t bare to see you hurt.” he explained, a blush spreading over his cheeks as he forced himself to continue looking into Lance’s eyes. “I want to protect you, I always want to protect you, because… Well, because I really like you.”

Lance’s face flushed as red as Keith’s as he processed his words.

Keith liked him. As in, actually like-liked him… He actually returned his feelings. It was such a strange concept for him that it took him a few long moments for it to really process. He blinked dumbly at Keith, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water, not knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry…” Keith muttered, taking the silence as a sign Lance didn’t feel the same way. He started to pull away from Lance, only to be pulled back in when Lance’s hands cupped his cheeks, catching him by surprised.

He met Lance’s gaze, shocked and confused to see him look so pleased and quietly content. Lance’s fingers trailed lightly from his cheeks to the back of his head, tangling into the hair at the back of his neck while he pressed his forehead lightly to Keith’s. With a smile, he said “I like you, too” before leaning in to press his lips against Keith’s.

It was soft and hesitant, the way Lance’s lips pressed against his. But Keith didn’t mind in the slightest as he closed his eyes and leaned up on his toes to press more firmly into it. His hands fisted into the bottom of Lance’s shirt in attempt to ground him as his mind soared.

When they pulled apart a moment later, Keith couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Lance was. He untangled his fingers from the fabric of Lance’s shirt to let them run down the line of his jaw, feeling how smooth and perfect his skin was. He was perfect.

But, Keith was still unsure about one thing: “What about Allura?” he whispered, letting his hand stop when it reached his cheek.

Lance leaned into Keith’s touch, placing his hand overtop of Keith’s to keep it there. “That’s what I was confused about.” Lance admitted, and pulled Keith’s hand down from his cheek to his chest lightly so he could say what he needed to say. “I recently realised that I had feelings for you… But, I didn’t know how to deal with that, along with my feelings for Allura, even after she rejected me.

“It wasn’t until I thought I was going to lose you that I realized how much you mean to me.” Lance continued, and leaned forwards again so their foreheads were touching. “You mean so much to me, Keith. I know that you’re the one I want to be with. I-I mean, if you’ll have me.” he stuttered.

Keith smiled and wrapped his arms around Lance in a tight hug, relieved to hear Lance’s words. He’d liked Lance for so long, he felt like his heart was going to explode from happiness as he buried his head into Lance’s shoulder. 

Lance wrapped his arms tightly around Keith, smiling so hard that his cheeks were hurting, but he didn't care. Keith liked him back. For the first time in his life, his feelings weren’t rejected or made fun of. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, grateful that he’d had the chance to meet and really get to know Keith.

When he peeked up from Keith’s shoulder, he noticed that Shiro and Adam were dancing not too far from them. Shiro glanced up and met his gaze, and gave Lance a big smile. Lance returned the smile gratefully, hoping that Shiro knew how thankful he was for the push he’d given Lance to talk to Keith in the first place.

But, the happy moment didn’t last as Pidge and Matt ran up to Shiro, pulling him aside to talk to him. 

Lance frowned as he watched Shiro’s face change. The conversation they were having seemed to be serious. He pulled back, making Keith look at him in confusion. Lance jerked his chin towards where Shiro, Pidge and Matt were talking. “Looks like something is up.” he said quietly.

Keith frowned, and grabbed Lance’s hand, twining their fingers together before gesturing to the group. “Let's go see what’s going on.” he murmured, and led the way to the others.

Shiro glanced over at them as they walked up to the group.

“What’s going on?” Keith asked, concerned.

“We just got a message from the Blade of Marmora.” Pidge said lowly, trying not to draw too much attention to their group. “Their spies got word that Sendak is on his way to Earth with a large fleet.”

Lance’s eyes widened in shock. “What?! We don’t even have the castle ready yet? When will he be here?” he asked in a panic, his fingers tightening around Keith’s.

“They weren’t able to give us a timeline so we need to prepare like, yesterday.” Hunk replied, looking over at the others spread across the room. “We need to gather everyone and meet Sam in the lab. Can you guys do that so Pidge and I can head back and get started?” he asked.

“No worries. We’ll meet you there.” Shiro replied, as Hunk and Pidge turned to head back to the lab. “Lance, Keith, let’s split up and get everyone together, but try not to cause a display. We don’t need the general public going into a panic.” he instructed.

“Okay, Shiro. We’ll see you soon.” Keith nodded in reply before Shiro walked over to Coran and Allura. 

Keith looked over the room, trying to spot his mum and Romelle in the crowd. 

“There they are.” Lance said, pointing to the side of the room. 

Keith looked over and saw them talking to a group of cadets. “Come on, let’s go.” He replied, dragging Lance over to the group.

Krolia looked over as Keith and Lance walked up to them and smiled, seeing their hands linked together. “Hey you two. What's going on?” she asked.

“Sam needs us down in the lab.” Keith replied vaguely, not wanting to reveal too much in front of the group of cadets who were all looking over at them.

“Right now?” Romelle exclaimed, pouting. “But we’re at a party! Can’t we do work stuff after?”

Lance and Keith looked over at each other, thinking about what they could say. 

“Uhh… It’s kinda important.” Lance replied, trying to get the message across that it was urgent.

Krolia frowned and shared a look with Keith. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes at him, asking a silent question that Keith nodded to. With a nod, she turned to Romelle and put her hand on her shoulder. “We should go see what they want.” she said lowly.

Romelle sighed, her shoulders drooping down in defeat. “Fine.” she whined. “Let’s go, then.” 

The four of them met up with Shiro, Allura and Coran in the corridor and walked down to the lab together. When they entered the lab, they saw that Sam, Colleen, Matt, Pidge and some of the rebels were already working.

“What's the situation?” Allura asked, walking up to the group. 

“We are going to take shifts so we can continue to work on the castle.” Sam replied, typing away on his monitor.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get it up in time before Sendak attacks.” Pidge added, typing away on another screen.

“What?!” Romelle exclaimed, her purple eyes wide in shock. “Who’s Sendak? And why is he attacking us?”

“Oh sorry, forgot you only joined us after he last attacked us.” Allura replied apologetically. “Sendak is a Galra commander who is rallying the broken forces of the galra empire.” she explained.

“He’s a ruthless warrior who is out to destroy us.” Keith added, crossing his arms over his chest.

Romelle looked around, her brows pinched. “Are we going to be safe on Earth?” She asked anxiously. “What about all the people here?” 

“We can still form Voltron.” Hunk replied.

“And the Garrison has its own means of defense.” Sam added.

“Don’t forget the rebels.” Matt pipped in. 

“The blades will also keep us updated. Hopefully they can give us a more solid timeframe soon.” Pidge said. 

Romelle sighed in relief. “Alright then.”

“So, what do you want us to do?” Keith asked. “There’s no point in us just standing around here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you want me tinkering with all this tech stuff.”

“I am going to go speak with the Garrison officers and let them know what’s happening.” Shiro stated, looking over at Lance, Keith, Romelle and Krolia. “Romelle, Krolia, can you help the rebels set up a base around back?” 

“Of course.” Krolia replied. There was a rebel officer waiting for them at the back of the room, and offered to escort them to where they were needed.

“Lance and Keith, we need you to empty out the lions.” Shiro instructed. “Just bring everything into the side building out of the way so Pidge and Hunk can do maintenance.” 

“Right.” Keith replied, before leaving with Lance to go back to the lions. 

They walked along in silence until they exited the building, when Lance spoke up: “What do you think’s gonna happen?”

Keith glanced over at him, and gave a slight shrug. “Well, I know what we’ll do: we’ll gather our strength, annihilate them before they get to Earth, and live to fight another day.”

“Yeah…” Lance bit at his lip as they approached the lions.

Keith made a beeline straight for the black lion. “We should probably split up to get this done faster.” he called back over his shoulder, before hopping up into the lion’s mouth to start unloading.

Lance watched him go before slowly making his way to red. He hadn’t taken a lot from the castle, he didn’t really have much there that made his space feel lived in. The only thing he valued enough to bring with him was Kaltenecker. Lance breathed out a sigh as he looked around at the emptiness of the interior of the red lion. There were still bits of hay laying in the corner, where Kaltenecker had been for most of the long journey, but he could clean that up another day.

Thinking of Kaltenecker just reminded him of his family, who had agreed to take her in. He walked over to the hay, and crouched down beside it, grabbing a piece between his fingers to fiddle with while his mind raced.

He was so scared that he would let his family down, now that they knew what he was doing, who he was fighting for. He was happy, so happy that he was able to see his family and let them know that he was alright, but now that they knew what he was doing, and how important his mission was, it’s all too easy to let them down with his stupid mistakes. He didn’t want them to get hurt because he wasn’t good enough. His blood family, or his new family.

He let the piece of hay drop back down onto the pile and stood up, and started making his way up to the cockpit. Once there, he plopped down in the pilot’s seat, looking out over the Garrison.

Even after all this time, he couldn’t help but think he didn’t belong there. He’d never been good enough, and he was constantly reminded of that fact by both his teachers and his peers. Everytime they mentioned Shiro, and how great of a pilot he was, or Keith, how he was only ever in the fighter pilot class because he’d flunked out. They were the true leaders, the true heroes of Earth. They were prodigies of their generation. He could never hope to achieve what they’ve so easily achieved. And even Pidge and Hunk were amazing! Their knowledge of the world and science, how to mold anything and everything to make their imagination come true was incredible! Lance knew he wasn’t as smart as them.

With a frown, Lance sat upright in the chair, thinking about what their next actions were. Voltron would be needed to hold off and defeat Sendak before he reached Earth, everyone would play their part. Shiro--

Lance paled at the thought of Shiro. Shiro had two arms again, and would be able to pilot a Voltron lion. He would go for black, obviously, since he had always been the head of Voltron. Which meant Keith would have to step down, to red, the only other lion he’d ever been able to pilot. Which took Lance out…

He could take the blue lion back from Allura, and have Allura be useful in the castle, or, wherever else she chose to go, but he couldn’t do that to her… It was her dream to follow in her father’s footsteps, to be a paladin of Voltron. Besides, she’d done more in her short time as the blue lion’s pilot than he ever had.

So… Where did that leave him?

Lance stood up, and brushed any imperfections from his suit pants before exiting the red lion. He knew what he had to do.

He wasn’t needed anymore. So, there was no sense for him to stick around. Shiro would take over the black lion, Keith would take red, and everyone can form Voltron and still be useful as more than just a pilot to a machine.

Tonight, after everyone was asleep, Lance would sneak out and leave, making the decision easy for the rest of his team. He didn’t want any of the others to stop him on his way out. He didn’t need any pity from the team. He was the extra, unnecessary, and unneeded paladin, so he would make use of himself elsewhere. Or, at least try to. Everyone, Shiro, Pidge, Allura, Hunk and Keith would go on to save the world like they were meant to.

The thought of Keith made Lance’s heart falter, made him doubt his decision for a moment. Leaving when things were still so new, so unexplored pained him, but he knew what he had to do. He could make it up to Keith after he watched him save the world.

He could hear red rumbling lowly as he left the cockpit, but shrugged it off as he made his way over to black.

Keith dropped the last of his stuff onto the ground a ways away from the black lion, and turned back just as Lance was a few feet away. “Oh, good, you’re done in red?” Keith asked. When Lance nodded, he continued. “Hunk has a pile of food goo crates in his lion, so I’ll need your help with those. I’m gonna head over to green, if you wanna take blue?” 

Lance smiled and nodded. “No worries. I’ll head right over.”

 

\---

 

Lance made sure to wait for the deepest hours of night before rousing from his bed. He picked up the few belongings he had in the new room before tiptoeing past everyone else and slipping out into the hall.

He’d made sure to leave his bayard for Keith to use when he reclaimed the red lion, as well as an apology note that he hoped would at least let Keith know how he felt. With a final sad look back into the room his teammates were in, Lance walked down the semi dark corridor and out into the night.

\----

Keith felt a familiar rumble run through his mind, tugging at the frayed edges of his consciousness. Red? He called out, wondering why the red lion was trying to reach him again. 

The darkness of his mind cleared to reveal the sandy shore of the beach he was all too familiar with. If he was here, that meant that something was going on with Lance. At the thought of him, Keith felt a rush energy pulse through him and glanced around to see where Lance was this time. 

He didn't have to look far; Lance had appeared nearby at the shore line, just standing there quietly watching the waves crash against the shore, so Keith walked over to him and stood next to him. 

“I’m sorry.” Dream Lance whispered, not looking away from the ocean.

Keith frowned and turned to look at him, taking his hand in his own. “What for?” he asked, confused. He couldn't think of anything Lance could be sorry for.

When Lance turned to face him, finally, he looked so incredibly sad. “I hope you won't hate me…” he said softly. “But, it was the right thing to do…” Tears started to well up in the corners of his eyes.

Keith frown deepened, and he raised his hand to caress Lance's cheek, ready to catch any stray tears that might fall. “What are you talking about?” he asked, concerned.

Lance closed his eyes, finally letting the tears fall. He raised his hand that Keith wasn't holding between them, and offered up the red bayard. He lowered his head shamefully, and said “It's yours again. I no longer need it.”

Keith’s eyes widened in shock. “What? What are you talking about?” he asked frantically, and tried to catch Lance’s gaze. When he didn’t receive an answer, he said his name again, but the dream started to fall apart around them. 

Lance finally looked up to meet Keith's gaze again. His blue eyes were watery, but there was grim determination there, too. “I’m sorry…” he said again, and let the bayard tumble from his grip towards the ground. As soon as it landed, the shockwaves manifested into large waves of energy, forcibly pushing Keith out of the dreamworld.

Keith woke with a start, his eyes wide and his breaths shallow. He took a moment to regain his composure before sitting up and looking around him. 

It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust, but once they did, he took a careful look at each of the beds to make sure everyone was still there.

Pidge was still breathing softly in the bed beside him, and Shiro’s new arm was reflecting light from the open doorway. Allura was across from him, her white hair a wild mess against the pillows. Coran and Romelle were on either side of her snoring away, and Krolia was curled up in a tight ball in her cot.

Lance had chosen the bed closest to the door last night, and now Keith had a sneaking suspicion as to why he did.

He pushed the covers back slowly, and got out of his bed as smoothly and quietly as possible to not disturb any of the others. He padded across the room as quickly as he dared to the door, where Lance’s bed was set up.

It was empty, save the red bayard, just like he’d seen in his dream.

Keith choked back a sob and picked it up with shaking hands, and heard an unexpected crinkle when his fingertips met the top of the sheets.

Beneath the red bayard was a note Lance left for him.

He clutched the red bayard to his chest, and stepped out into the hallway with the note so he could read what it said.

Keith,

By the time you read this, I will be long gone. I decided that it would be best if I were to step down from being a Paladin, especially with Sendak on his way. Voltron needs it's strongest Paladins, and since I’m the weakest link, it makes sense that I should be the one to leave. 

Now that you have Shiro back, there is no need for me to stick around. He is the natural leader of Voltron, and he deserves to pilot black again. You are the most talented pilot of the team and an amazing fighter, and I know red will be thrilled to have you back. Hunk, Pidge and Allura all have amazing skills to bring to the team… And it would be unfair of me to take blue back from Allura when she’s bonded with blue and become such a talented Paladin in such a short amount of time. She deserves to be her pilot more than me.

I know the timing is bad, when we had just started… Whatever it is we have, but I don't want to hold you back. I will be here when the fight is over, if you still want to be with me… But, if not, then I understand. Just know that I will miss you, and know that leaving you has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. 

I’m so sorry,   
♡ Lance

Keith squeezed his eyes shut as tears threatened to fall. He scrunched up the note in his hand and rushed away.

He sprinted through the corridors, trying to find which way Lance had gone. When there was no sight of him inside, he ran out the main entrance and out into the cold desert night. He had no idea how much of a head start Lance had on him, or even which way he went, but he continued to run anyway, hoping that he'd eventually run into him. 

About half an hour later, Keith came to some cliffs and slowed to a stop, breathing hard as he tried to catch his breath. He had yet to find any sign of Lance, and he was starting to lose hope of ever catching up to him. He looked down at the note in his hand again, rereading the last paragraph. He couldn't believe that Lance had just left without saying anything. He knew that Lance had been insecure about his position on the team a while ago, but he had thought he’d moved past that. 

Didn't Lance realise that part of the reason he'd left for the Blades was for him? So he didn’t have to feel like he didn’t belong, like a third wheel… Or, seventh wheel, he guessed. Didn’t Lance see how important he was, how much he deserved to be on the team? Sure, he was a bit of a goofball at times, and liked to flirt at the most inopportune moments, but he was such an invaluable member to the team…

How did Lance not see that?

Keith’s breath caught in his throat as he came to a realization. The dreams! This is what they meant, they were telling Keith how Lance was feeling the entire time, and he was too slow to realise what he was supposed to do about it. 

Growling in frustration, he took off in a run again, desperate but determined to find Lance. He needed to tell him how important he was, not just to him, but to the team as well. He’d bring Lance home if it was the last thing he’d do. 

As he continued to run, he saw something in the distance. Squinting in the dark, he vaguely recognized it as a human figure. “LANCE!” he yelled out, hoping the person was in fact Lance, and that he had heard him.

The figure stopped and looked back to see Keith running toward them.

As Keith got closer, he could make out the familiar mop of brown hair and tan skin, glowing beneath the moonlight. “Lance!” he called out again, happy and relieved that he had finally caught up to him.

Lance frowned as he approached. “Keith? What are you doing here?” he questioned. No one was supposed to be up for hours. He’d thought that he’d be too far away for anyone to catch up to him, but here Keith was, panting like he’d just run a marathon.

Keith frowned in return and pushed the scrunched up note firmly into Lance’s chest. “What the hell were you thinking?!” he yelled angrily, his emotions getting the best of him. “You think you can just write a note and leave without telling anyone?! Without telling me?” 

Lance's expression softened as he gazed sadly at Keith. “I was just trying to do the right thing.” he explained softly, and brought up his hand to place it over Keith’s trembling one on his own chest. “I swear, I was just… Trying to do the right thing.”

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. “You are such an idiot sometimes…” He muttered under his breath, and opened his palm slightly to grab some of the material of Lance’s shirt with the note bunched up in his fist. He glared up at Lance, frustrated with Lance’s cyclical train of thought. “How the hell is this the right thing to do? You can’t leave! We need you.” 

Lance looked away from Keith’s angry and hurt gaze, his heart constricting in his chest. “I told you… I’m not needed anymore. I’m a liability to the team, to the people here…” he glanced back at Keith, feeling more confident in his decision. “You are better without me.” He finished determinedly. 

Keith’s eyes widened, his heart pounding harshly in his chest. Hearing Lance say the words hurt more than reading them in his note. He sounded so sure and final that it made his chest hurt. “How can you say that?” he asked in disbelief. “Do you not realise how important you are to the team… To me? 

“I’m sorry I didn't realise how you were feeling sooner, but you’re wrong.” Keith glared at Lance with determination. “Lance, you are such a valuable member of our team. You are such a caring and kind person. You're always checking on everyone and making sure they are alright even before your own needs. You're funny, but you can also be serious when needed. Your selfless and determined and a good strategist. You’re an amazing pilot and an incredible shot. You have so many wonderful qualities, I just don’t understand how you can’t see that…” his voice had dropped down to a whisper by the end, but Lance didn’t appear to be swayed in the least.

“I’m so sorry.” Lance raised his hand to caress Keith’s cheek, pushing some of his bangs behind his ear fondly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you… But even if what you say is true, now that Shiro is back again, there’s no room for me…”

“That’s not true.” Keith said, leaning into Lance’s touch as he stepped closer. “I’m the leader now. Shiro is happy to step down and take command on the ground, and I need you. Don’t you see? You’re my right hand man, remember? You said you’d always have my back. I don’t want to do this without you by my side.” He looked up pleadingly into Lance’s eyes. “I can’t do this without you. Please, please stay...”

Lance blinked the tears from his eyes as Keith finished talking. He was speechless. Absolutely speechless. No one had ever told him that he was important or that he was needed or wanted. Nobody had ever stopped and made the time to stop and tell him how important he was, and it just made him fall all the harder for the boy in front of him. His heart was trying to soar out of his throat, and he felt so much love for the boy standing in front of him that he could hardly contain it. He let his fingers trail back and tangle into Keith’s hair before swooping down and kissing him soundly.

Keith’s breath caught in his throat when Lance’s lips met his, but immediately pushed up onto his toes to lean into the kiss. God, he didn’t think he’d ever tire of feeling Lance pressed up against him in all the right ways. It felt like Lance was trying to pass a part of his own soul through his lips to Keith, and Keith was more than happy to take it.

They pulled apart after a few moments and rested their foreheads together, breathing in each other’s air in the short space between them.

“I’m so sorry.” Lance whispered softly as tears fell from his eyes, and wrapped his arms securely around Keith’s waist. “I’m just so scared… Scared that I won’t be able to protect those I care about, or protect you--”

“Don’t think like that.” Keith interrupted, and pressed a swift kiss to Lance’s lips. “We’ll be fine. I know you’re more than capable of protecting us. You give yourself too little credit, sharpshooter.”

Lance’s cheeks flushed at the nickname, but he smiled anyways. “Aww, samurai, when did you get so good at this?”

“Maybe I’ve always been good at it.” He replied with a smirk. “You’ve just never noticed.”

Lance breathed out a chuckle, and bumped his nose against Keith’s.

“But seriously,” Keith said lowly, “Whatever happens, we will protect our home and our families together, alright?” He let the crumpled note drop from his hand so he could hook his fingers in the collar of Lance’s shirt. “You’re not alone. Just… Promise me you won’t leave without me next time.”

“I think that’s something I can agree to.” He replied lowly, his lips brushing against Keith’s with every word, before he swooped in and kissed him soundly.

\---

 

Later the next day, the Garrison alarm bells rang throughout the facility, letting everyone know that there were enemy ships on the way. 

Lance and Keith, who had been helping the rebels with medical supplies, dropped what they were doing when they heard the alarms going off.

Keith looked over at Lance and offered his hand out to him. “You ready?”

Lance smiled and twined their fingers together. “You bet! Let’s go kick some galra butts.”

Keith laughed, and the two of them ran over to their lions with the rest of the team.

“Alright guys. It’s time to form Voltron and protect our planet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Voltron emerges Victorious! LOL
> 
> I thought this was a good place to stop cause the story was more about how Keith and Lance come together rather than the fighting itself.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this fic, I'm so grateful to everyone who read it, commented, and shared it around. 
> 
> Please feel free to come yell Voltron or Klance at me on tumblr [@forsakenangel88](http://forsakenangel88.tumblr.com/) or twitter [@ForsakeAngel88](https://twitter.com/ForsakeAngel88)
> 
> Thank you again <3


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